Twilight Worlds
by KiroDrakSlayer
Summary: AU. No supernatural. Read inside for summary. Sterek
1. Chapter 1- Good morning

A/N: Hello to everyone.

So after making my account in here I finally had the guts to go and publish a story.

Hope you guys enjoy it. And just so you know English is not my native language so I apologize for any mistakes or typos you find here.

Also just so there are no misunderstandings I wanna go ahead and explain a little thing (before I'm bashed over the head with it like my beta reader did). I'm using a little something here that many of you may or may not have read before, BUT I want to say on my defense that it only serves a base-side-totally-irrelevant thing and not really a main factor for this story.

Also I wanted to do a tribute and reference to the author theSilence for the story 'Baking my way into your heart' which i think is both hilarious and fantastic (which by the way I'm sure many readers like me are waiting for the final chapter XD).

Having said that lets roll.

Have fun. :)

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Summary

Derek Hale possesses the three wishes of men: fame, power and fortune. He's a successful man of business and heir to one of the most prestigious families of high society; however, his one and only wish is to have someone who loves him for who he _really_ is, and he's willing to give up everything he has to make it happen. Stiles is a college student who, despite high grades and scholarships, struggles to keep up with his tuition. His dream is to gain his degree and become a famous writer, and he will do _anything_ to make it happen... even if it means transforming into 'Spark', the most popular stripper of the Wolf Pack Night Club. Destiny has deemed to intertwine their paths.

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Chapter 1. - Good morning

The moment is quiet and peaceful as the wind blows calmly through the morning blue sky, and the first rays of sunlight break the perpetual remnants of darkness allowing the birds to sing their usual lullaby. A fresh feeling combines with the gentle breeze as it squirms through every window, causing every drape to lightly flap announcing the beginning of the day. The first signs of life allow the people to wake up and begin their usual routines.

Derek Hale is one of those.

His green pale eyes open to the insistent chipping of the birds, not that he hates it but is not particularly charming this morning. He lets out a resounding groan and he pushes his silk sheets away, revealing strong ripped muscles bathing in the first rays of light that come in through the mid open drapes of his balcony door. He slides his legs to the side of the bed to sit up, resting his elbows on his knees and then burying his face on both hands sighing with frustration. He hates Monday mornings.

Despite personal feelings Derek is a man of responsibilities and forces himself up from bed, mumbling in displeasure of the act and walking towards his balcony door. After opening the door and stepping outside his body makes a quick shiver after colliding with the morning breeze, his eyes blinded by the rising sun and his body lightly shining in the light revealing every last line that conforms his well-developed muscles. He overcomes the dazzle of the sun and glances down at the immense forest that resides just behind his family's mansion. He loves it.

The raven haired man has a love for natural environments because he feels the freedom that emanates from them, and sometimes he finds himself wishing for that same freedom and peace. To feel that peace and freedom he closes his eyes and inhales, filling his lungs with the fresh clean air coming from said forest. His ears quickly deafen to any sound, and his body completely relaxes letting himself get lost in the harmony of the moment. The sound of his cell phone quickly crashes his moment back to reality.

Snarling for the interruption his muscles tense in annoyance as he walked to the nightstand beside the bed, picking the damn machine to check the screen. He huffs as he reads the contact name in the flickering screen, _Laura_, stupid timing she always had. He first thinks of letting this one pass, smirking as he thinks of his sister waiting for him to answer, but his smile quickly vanishes as he remembers that his sister is more fucking stubborn than the flu.

"What!?" he growls at the phone, frowning like only he knows.

"As charming as ever right little bro?" she sounds cheerful. Derek frowns yet again almost feeling that cynical smile of her.

"I just got up." He spat harshly, not really in the mood to take in her sister's unique sense of humor.

"Well Der Der, you're a man of responsibilities so I understand," he could practically _feel_ her smirk which caused Derek to glare at the void of his room.

"I know," he snorted, "Laura get to the point," and Derek started to walk to the wardrobe door, pulling out a set of clothes for the day not really bothering to look what he picked.

"_Someone_ is a bit cranky today." She is not helping. It's so like her to push his buttons when he less needs it.

"It's _six_ in the morning Laura," his voice started to rise, "And it's fucking _Monday_." Is no surprise to the raven haired man that from all the people in the world it's precisely his sister the only one 'smart' enough to bother him on this day.

"Ok, ok, I get it, sheesh" she sighed, "Listen, I need a favor-"

"No," he quickly interrupts leaving his clothes on the bed and returning to the nightstand to pick his office cell phone, checking for any notifications for today's agenda.

"Come on Derek, I haven't even said anything yet," she starts to whine. Not that the man gives a damn anyway, he knows better than whenever a conversation with Laura starts to shift like this then is better to back off.

"That's why I said no," he starts walking to his bathroom. Not really interested in getting drag down to one more of his sister's 'favors'.

"Come Der Der just hear me out," her tone becomes more imploring and Derek tries, really _really_ tries, to make Laura feel the hard scowl in his face just like she manages to make him feel that annoying smile of hers.

"I said _no,_" he snarled again while turning on the shower, he knew he was reaching the very peak of his patience, especially after slamming the bathroom's door.

"But I _really_ need your help Der Der," she starts to mellow her voice. Derek hates that, he really really hates that, because despite everything he still has a soft spot... unfortunately her sister knows how to get to him.

"Laura-," he makes a pause to sigh. Sometimes he can really be a pushover when it comes to the people he loves, even the ones he loves against his will.

The man knows better than to give up to whatever her sister asks of him, and each and every time she somehow manages to get to him which always ends in regret. It's not the first, and certainly not the last time, that Laura always gets to convince him into something he really doesn't want to do. So much for the public figure that Derek Hale is when it comes to business, and good thing he's careful with his private life because paparazzis would just go crazy if they ever saw him being pushed around by his sister.

"Der Der?" her tone becomes mellower and he can practically picture that stupid begging face she does every time she needs him to do something for her.

"Oh for the love of god." he grumbles while rubbing his nose bridge. He knows he just can't take it anymore. God damn the moment his parents decided to have Laura before him.

"Pretty please Der Der?" and that's the last before he finally gives in with the defeated look on his face, which he's grateful that no one is there to see it.

"Fine!" he sighs while stripping off his pajama bottoms, "What is it?"

"It's easy Der Der," Derek immediately regrets agreeing because it's never easy, "I just need you to pick up Uncle Peter from the airport."

"Oh god," he sighs in frustration once again.

He frowns as he quickly realizes what he just agreed to, not that he hates his uncle or anything. One of Derek's most important values is family, and he would do anything and everything for each and every one them, even for his creepy uncle Peter. But having said that he also can't deny that Peter has a knack for doing the most unusual things ever, and each and every time he gets involved in one of his uncle's whims it always turns into a fucking mess. Sometimes he can't help but to wonder how in the hell did he end up being part of this family.

"Don't worry you just need to pick him up and drive him back to the house," her tone became cheerful again.

"Are you sure that's all?" he says annoyed because knowing Laura as he does, there is always a catch in everything she involves him with.

"I promise," she quickly answered. She is not telling him something and that's what makes Derek's alarms go nuts, telling him he's just in for another of her endless shit storms.

"Let me guess," he says in a sarcastic tone, "You promise to pick him up and now you can't right?" Derek sighs because he already knows the answer.

"Sorry little bro," she sounds like she's sorry, "It's just that something _really_ important showed up and I have to get it done," but clearly she isn't.

Derek lets out a sigh. "Fine."

Although Laura Hale always manages to fulfill her promises, Derek also knows that her sister usually tends to drift from her word for stupid reasons. Hence why most of the times he ends up doing things for her, and sometimes he hates himself for being so soft to her. He is known in his family for being the tough guy, the badass as Cora says sometimes, a man worth of trust according to his father, but also kind hearted as his mother would always say. Sometimes he hated being the only male sibling.

"Well I gotta go Der Der," she interrupted his line of thought, "I'll text you the details later, see ya," her raised tone buzzing in his ear, "And thanks again little bro," and the line dies making him snort.

Another frustrated sigh leaves his mouth before entering the shower, he already feels a headache coming his way and is all thanks to his fucking self. Each and every time he lets Laura convince him to do something for her it's usually bad news for him, and now that it involves his uncle Peter he knows he is going to regret it even more.

Derek finally decides to not dwell on the thought anymore and focuses on the routine ahead of him, allowing the cold water of the shower to drown his thoughts away and leave him with a cold shiver running down his spine. He comes out of the shower dripping a few drops with a white towel around his waist; he stops before his bed glancing at the clothes lying in it. A gray suit set with black shirt, gray tie, and black shoes. His favorite attire. Weird how just a few minutes ago he wasn't even paying attention to what clothes he pulled out of his wardrobe, yet it seemed like his instinct had kicked right in.

Quickly pulling on every piece of cloth he hurried downstairs to have breakfast, the expensive shoes' soles were echoing in the big receiving hall as he went down the big carpeted stairway and turning to his right once he reached the floor heading straight for the kitchen in hopes of eating at the very least a yogurt before heading for work. His steps came to a halt right at the kitchen's entrance after spotting a long haired brunette teenage girl leaning on the kitchen counter; she was munching a tuna salad sandwich while drinking a glass of apple juice.

"Now this is a surprise," said the girl without even looking at him with a smug tone like only she knew how to use. Both elbows on the counter, sandwich on her right and apple juice in her left.

"Not in the mood Cora." He said while walking pass her right to the fridge. After putting up with Laura he knew his patience for the rest of the day was hanging in a very thin thread, and he was not about to lose it to Cora.

"No surprise there," she said again while sipping her juice. Looking at her brother from the corner of her right eye as he passed her by.

"I could really use some peace and quiet, you know?" he was leaning to rummage the back part of the fridge. He already knew there was no point in asking for some peace from her little sister.

"And I could use your Camaro," she replied to which Derek immediately glared back at her, "But the world is not perfect, right big bro?" she returned to munch on her breakfast closing her eyes in a dignified way.

"I guess not," he decided against fighting back and returned to search something to eat. The girl sharpened her eyes on the man, almost surprised that he didn't fight back. Actually Derek thought that if he kept his mouth shut Cora would feel compelled to do the same.

He was wrong.

"So, big bro," she began eyeing the man's back giggling and fidgeting while twisting her fingers around and Derek, who was looking at her from over his shoulder, felt his alarms turning on again, "I was wondering-"

"No," he abruptly interrupted looking back into the fridge. Cora just gaped.

Derek had live with her for a long time enough to know what was going on inside of her snarky little mind, because since she got her license all she ever talked about was how amazing would be if he let her ride the Camaro down the road. He of course would refuse at every word she tried to spat out at him.

"I didn't even say anything," she sounded offended. Derek knew both of his sisters very well, and he could already know where this was going... as usual.

"Still no," he said pulling out the carton of milk turning around to see her, "Besides, you're way too predictable so it wasn't that hard to guess." he said with a smirk on his face and about to drink from the carton.

"Mother will kill you if she finds out you drank from the carton," smiling she used a tone of amusement and, obviously, threatening him making Derek froze in place, quickly thinking of a comeback.

"Father will kill you if he found out you tried to take my Camaro," he smiled in triumph when her smirk faltered by mere seconds.

"Father will kill _you_ first when he knows that you caused me to get late to one of my midterms." Now Derek was the one who faltered. His father was especially touchy when it came to school grades, and even more special about Cora's.

"What happen to Isaac's car?" he immediately mentally slapped himself and huffed when he saw Cora smiling at him. He had lost the game.

"Busted" was her only answer rolling her eyes and shrugging as if that was enough explanation. Derek raised a brow.

"Elaborate please." He crossed his arms over his chest, an expectant expression on his face, awaiting the story Cora would come up with to try and soothe him into giving up the Camaro.

"Well something went wrong with the engine," Derek only cocked his brows, his thought being 'Seriously? That's best you could come up with?' which didn't went unnoticed by the girl, "You know I don't know jack shit about cars!" She said in desperation.

"And when did it happen?" his face didn't show it but he was giving in, and he once again mentally slapped himself for that.

"It was like half an hour ago," she motioned towards the door that lead to the huge garage of the Hale Manor, "Isaac is already looking into it," Cora paused a moment and Derek turned his eyes back from door to look at her, "But it could probably take a while." Her face showed a bit of distress.

"What did Boyd say about it?" after realizing the question he just let passed his lips he immediately started to rub his bridge with his free hand. Cora had finally got him.

"He said that if he could take it to the workshop he could give it a more thorough check out and see what happened." Her tone still remained calm, but Derek was willing to bet his precious Camaro that Cora was madly grinning in the inside.

"What time is your test?" he said sighing leaving the milk carton in the counter. No stopping the bridge rubbing.

"At nine o'clock," she said in a disturbing quirky tone. The smile in Cora made Derek realize that she already knew she had won.

"Oh my god," his words came in a petty moan and he saw her sister spinning from left to right in her spot, smiling at him, with her bright eyes wide open.

"I promise I'll be very very careful." She immediately said putting her hands together, "Pretty please big bro?"

He really was a pushover when it came down to family, and even more when it was about his sisters. Not that Derek would ever admit it out loud to Cora or Laura, because if he _did_ his life would be and even worse hell. He knew that, taking these two sisters he had, it could easily be possible. So after finally accepting that he had to give in, Derek slowly pulled out his car keys from his left pocket holding them by them by the small wolf key chain he got from his father. Cora's smile widened when the keys were just in front of her, jingling and reflecting the lights of the morning sun coming through the kitchen's window. As she raised her fingers to catch the cold metal things Derek somehow felt his heart thaw by the girl's happy smile, he really was a pushover for his family. Suddenly a door slammed open, freezing both brothers and making them turn around. A curly haired blonde boy stepped through with a huge grin of victory, a grin that came when one was able to overcome a hardship. The boy looked at the brothers, Derek's face showing surprise and Cora's eyes slowly shifted into horror.

"Hey Cora!" he cheerfully said not really noticing how the girl was slightly shaking her head or how her eyes seemed horrified pleading him to shut up, "Boyd and I finally got it! Erica helped too!" again the girl tried to warn him this time shaking her head a little bit more roughly than before silently imploring him to shut the fuck up; however, Isaac proved to be even more clueless than what general opinion stated, "The car works! Now you can make it to your test in time!" he finished with his characteristic grin.

"Oh my god!" she finally groaned- actually more like yelled hiding her face behind her hands. He knew the boy could be totally oblivious at times but not like this and most certainly not at _that_ very moment.

"What's wrong?" Isaac asked genuinely lost while Cora angrily glared at him and the kid felt lost, "What did I miss?", glancing back at the raven haired man he saw a smirk widening across his face.

"Oh for fuck sake!", Cora finally snapped, "Can't you have any worse timing?", Isaac slightly shivered at her scream more because of the buzzing her voice caused that the anger she was emanating. So he glanced back at Derek, finally catching up when he saw the older man's grin.

"Oh" being that the only word to come out of his mouth Cora started to fume while Derek only grinned more and more, "Wait!" he said suddenly said getting both brother's attention and pointed at the older one, "You were actually going to let _her_ have the Camaro?!" the surprised look was printed all over his face.

"I was this close no thanks to you Lahey!" She shouted in his face closing her index and thumb in his face.

"Oh boy," he nervously said scratching the back of his head, giggling to hide his fear of the girl's mood.

"Isaac," Derek's voice made booth teens turn their faces to him, "You just made my day." He said with a grin.

"Fine!" snapped Cora again, "You win this time big bro," she turned to the garage door, "I had enough for today!" And she went stomping away.

"Crap," the kid's curse made Derek turn to him with a less marked grin and the boy was still scratching his head heavily sweating, "I really am fucked up am I?" He turned to see the older man to which the Hale man nodded.

"Get your sorry ass over here Isaac!" Cora's scream came over from the back of the garage. Her tone still was angered, and Derek could've swore that some of the windows' glasses had just rumbled. Isaac still was in his place doing the scratch

"I'm so fucking dead." He moaned burying his face in his hands. Derek only patted his back his back in consolation.

"Tell you what," the man's voice made the kid turn his big puppy eyes to him, "If you're still alive after evening I promise I'll take you out for a good burger," he half hugged him with one arm around the kid's shoulders, "What do you say to that?"

"Really?" Isaac's face was beaming, "How about those double meat and grilled cheese burgers?" He said and almost letting out a happy shriek when he saw Derek nodding.

"Isaac Lahey! Get a move on! We're all waiting!" Both men winced feeling as if drill had just been shoved through their ears. Derek couldn't help to wonder if Boyd and Erica were deaf now being in the same car as his sister.

"As I said," he paused looking from the garage door to the teen, "_If_ you're still alive."

Derek watched as the teen walked through the door (and possibly to his imminent death) with a mix of happiness for the promise of his favorite burger and also shivering from the still resounding screams of Cora. Shaking his head while smiling the raven haired man walked over one of the kitchen's cupboards and pulled out a glass to pour some milk in it, drank half of the glass and poured some more milk in before returning the carton to the fridge to walk back into the receiving hall. He stopped right before the nightstand next to the kitchen's door frame studying the pictures hanging from the walls, pictures of several moments of his family and friends, until he stopped at the last one where everybody, family and friends including a creepy uncle, were staring with a big smile. Everybody together, just the way Derek loved it.

Despite the fortune and prestige that the Hale family had acquired since long time ago they had always managed to keep themselves as a very simple family who longed for nothing but the simplest of things, a simple family that only looks out for each other and care about nothing but true happiness. That's what Derek loved the most of his life; the fact that here, in his home, with his family and friends, he could feel free of the outside world and the heavy burden that his family's name used to impose on every member. The fact that he constantly had to put on this mask called _Derek Hale_ whenever he was facing the world, a mask he had grown to hate but still cling to a the very same time for his own reasons, usually took the toll on him every night as he needed to drift into sleep. Because despite how much he would really love to toss that mas aside he knows he just can't… at the very least not without paying the consequences.

Like he once did.

Shaking his head when he realized that he was looking at a white stained glass bottom he grabbed his keys, left the glass in the nightstand and started walking towards the door. Once outside he slipped on his sun glasses as he kept walking to his black Camaro shining brightly under the morning sun, feeling his chest swelling with the usual peace that a good ride in his trusty Camaro gave him. So quickly stepping into the driver seat and buckling up he started the engine, a roar filled the morning silencing the chipping in the woods around and, with a low screech from the tires in the entrance pavement, the car took off into the road ahead.

Mondays were still a bitch, but he still had to be _Derek Hale_.

He hated it.

* * *

The alarm clock had been drilling his ears for some time now and he swore that his damn radio clock tended to be even more relentless than usual only on Monday mornings, which is why with an annoyed frown on his usual smiley features he grabbed the clock, pulling with enough strength to make sure the power cord came out from its socket, to throw it away as far as possible.

As soon as the machine had left his hand he immediately dropped dead on his pillow again, maybe hearing wood from his bureau cracking and several of his picture frames rattling at the sudden movement but he just couldn't get himself to care. Funny thing is that, despite everything he did just to get a little more shuteye, the moment he opened his eyes to the alarm he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep again so, after a few seconds of recounting his reasons for hating his life in the morning, he made a loud groan as he lifted his body from the bed, sliding his legs out to sit in the side of the mattress. He allowed himself to dwell for a few more seconds burrowing his face into his hands, groaning once again before standing up to make his way into the bathroom. He started by opening the faucet and let the water run for a minute while watching at the crystal liquid pouring down the drain, he always felt a sense of peace and calmness whenever he saw running water, and once he thought the water was not so freezing he put his hands together to gather some water splashing over his face in one swift movement. His body lightly shivered when the _'supposedly_-_not-so-goddamn-cold'_ water made contact and several drops trailed across his face, dripping down his bare slim chest when they reached the edge of his jaw line, disappearing under the waistband of his red sweatpants. Opening his eyes he took a moment to stare at his reflection in the mirror.

Stiles was not a person who cared a lot for is personal appearance, or at the very least not that much, because he had always been a person who cared more for the inside in heart and mind. Whenever he found someone interesting it was because, due to his observation skills, he used to find interesting little details in someone that allowed him to make quite accurate guesses of what that person was like in the inside (quality that was second only to Lydia's in his own words). He had always hated shallow people, which is why he pretty much hated his entire life during high school, because he hated how many people rejected one another just because they wore the wrong shirt, or were standing in the wrong position, or any other stupid reason those superficial jerks had for shunning others, just because they were out of their status quo. He had suffered his big share of that, not that he was complaining because that actually brought to him the true friends he had always wished for, but the path to that point had been painfully unbearable; the pain of believing yourself to be disgusting, the pain of feeling unwanted and unloved, the pain of finding yourself alone every single night, the pain of standing in the middle of a crowded place and still feel like you're alone in a giant void, the pain of crying several nights because nobody wanted to look your way… he really had suffer.

Why was he thinking about these things now?

Because life is cruel and likes to twist things over.

The moment the scrawny young man saw his reflection in the mirror the first thing his eyes had notice was a little red dot sprouting right in the left corner of his jaw, _'A pimple,'_ his mind had instantly said. Probably many could say that having pimples was completely normal, others could also add that many people worried at pimples and there was nothing be ashamed about, or maybe a few could say that it was nothing to even bother over. Truth be told Stiles _was_ worried, but most of all angry… really angry. Was a stupid and measly little pimple really worth such anger? It was not the pimple itself _but_ the implications behind Stiles noticing it.

For starters, and the principal reason in Stiles' opinion, was the fact that he had started to turn into one of those shallow people who worried about nothing but physical appearance; he knows better than that, that is not that there's anything wrong with worrying to look good, even if it's only for self-comfort, but Stiles had always believed that the moment he allowed those thoughts to root in his mind he would slowly begin to turn into something he didn't want to be, something he had hated since long… and he was right. The second reason, having drastic repercussions to his current life, was the fact that a pimple could easily damage his job._ 'Yeah sure, "job",'_ he said making a sarcastic snort.

Not wishing to think any more about the matter he quickly stripped off his sweatpants revealing he was going commando, and turned on the shower stepping inside at the same time. His body made violent shivers as soon as it came in contact with the cold rain, freezing water drops sending small quivers as they trailed their way down through his slim frame from the top of his head, down across his back and chest, sliding in his hips, slipping in between his legs, and finally hitting the tiled floor by dripping off from his heels. He started to wash his body with one of those fancy white soaps to clean and moisturize the skin, fact that his mind processed making him angry yet again. _'I don't want… to be… like that,'_ his mind slowly phrasing the words at the same time that he scrubbed himself with more strength than necessary. Being bent down while also scrubbing off his ankles his eyes remained locked looking at the soap's foam swirling around the drain to finally disappear from sight, he remained there for a few seconds sighing with a sad look on his face.

_'I'm losing my self'_, his thoughts resounded in his ears like if he had spoken… with his voice about to break, _'Every day more and more,'_ and with that last thought and the last of the foam banishing away down the plughole he let out a sigh making him feel all defeated.

After a tortuous shower Stiles was stepping back into his room with nothing but a short towel around his slim waist, his body shining with the morning lights thanks to the several water trails circling his lean muscles and the drops dripping from the damped hair. As he traced back and forth through the room taking off the towel and brushing away with it any remaining dampness from his body he first went to the bureau to pull out a pair of red brief boxers from the upper drawer, slipping them on right away and then to headed for the wardrobe stopping before the big mirror hanging from one of the doors. He stared at his own reflection once more for the day, he fought against making a disapproving frown because every time he saw himself in a mirror he could swear that, with every passing day of his life, he was becoming less and less himself, and that truth (because he knew very well he couldn't lie to himself) was unstoppable. Shaking his head and opening the closet's door with more strength than what he intended to use, he quickly grabbed the very first acceptable combination of clothes he saw and went back to the bed.

_'Fuck,'_ he huffed in frustration, _'Even with the clothes now? Seriously Stilinski?!'_'

Once dressed he went to the kitchen and opened the fridge to measure the amount of supplies left, eyes darting from one side to the other, and as soon as he made a decision his hands quickly grabbed everything he needed stepping away to close the door with his left foot. Cooking was something he enjoyed on every day (even on fucking-god-forsaken Mondays) because it was one of the very little few things that reminded him of the happy days; because cooking always made him feel more at peace and served as a reminder of a unique ability that many guys his age lacked; because cooking made him remember his dad who he always used to pester about eating healthy food and it always made him smile the way his old man would growl at the non-greasy food but would still chow down the meal his only son would make for him; because cooking was something he had learn from his dear and beloved mother when she was alive.

As his breakfast was ready the teen took seat on the little table in the kitchen and quickly ate away everything, not that he was particularly hungry but he really didn't wish to dwell anymore in his apartment that was starting to feel way too stuffy. So quickly going to the small couch in the living room, or rather the half of the room that was the living room (the other half being the kitchen and the table), he grabbed his backpack heading now for the nightstand next to the exit door where he grabbed his keys, and unlocking the door he stepped out slamming the door behind him.

He was definitely angry today.

He quickly ran for the elevator and punched the lobby button, smirking at the fact that he had the elevator for himself that morning. Once out he hurried to the exit and quickly turned right heading down the sidewalk, he made a quick glance to his wristwatch to check the hour, '7:45 am', it was not so late but still he wasn't sure if there was enough time to make it in time for his first class. His studies were one of the few things he never thought lightly about, actually if he gave it a much more deep thought it was the very reason why his life was like this. Stiles wasn't about to complain to that because he had determination, he had made his decision long ago, also he had a dream and a promise.

Leaping out of his thoughts the young man quickly made it to the corner jumping inside the already fleeing bus who was already spinning the tires at the traffic's green light, he paid the fare and took a seat in the back part of the bus sitting down while trying to breath normally again. As the buildings and the passing people became a blurry stain outside the window he reached his pocket to pull out his phone, making a few slides with his finger only to watch a picture popping out in the screen. The image of a woman came into view. She was brandishing a warm smile, dressed with a plain white dress and sandals, lips naturally pink and soft, big brown eyes brimming with a beautiful glint, and pale skin soft as silk. Stiles smiled at the image after checking her features yet again.

_'Hey mom,'_ he heard his own voice echoing in his head by only saying that one word.

_'I haven't given up yet,'_ he shrugged and smiled more, _'Dad always said that I got that from you, so he wasn't surprised when I told him about going to college since even before I was even starting high school,'_ he snorted at the memory.

_'He said I would be a total mess if I did ever get to live on my own,'_ his smile turned now into a more gentle one, _'I managed to ease off the worry from him with the promise of getting a scholarship and all but…,'_ his features contorted into sadness when his thoughts made a pause.

_'I'm sorry,'_ he shut eyes as if he could see a hurt look on his mother's face, _'I know is not the best way to solve things but...'_

The bus sudden stop made him aware that he had already reached his campus, so turning off the screen and apologizing to his mother one more time Stiles headed for his first class. Making a run for the first door and dashing through the halls to make it in time.

He was not going to complain even if he could (or even if he had good reasons to do it), but mostly he knew that he shouldn't because it was _him_ who caused the mess his life was in the first place. So yeah, no complaining. Especially not when after the first two classes in the morning he had to attend his job at the Wolf's Bane Coffee Loft, which used to be crowded with students from noon until four in the afternoon. Then he had to attend yet two more and classes and that would be the end of his Monday. Luckily for him today was his only free day from his other _"job"_ and he was grateful for that, not that it was any comforting but he really needed the extra hours of sleep or maybe use those hours to catch up with his homework.

He sat down on his usual spot as English Literature class began.

* * *

A white cavalier smoothly parked into the free spot the driver had found as soon as he entered the parking lot, it was the closest one to the building that all of the passengers need to get into in order to go to their respective classrooms (actually it was more to get the hell away from one of the current passengers in the back seat). Before the car even made a complete stop the passenger seat door was already being open and exited by a blonde girl with curly locks cascading the sides of her face and over the collar of her purple colored jacket; she was wearing a black short tight skirt and blouse (which gave a good view of her cleavage) with high heel purple boots to match a heavy black and purple makeup and big eyes that glimmered with mischief; a black satchel hanging from her left shoulder carrying some notebooks; and using headphones with music blasting out loud from them, her face made an annoyed expression as she began to walk away not able to handle any more of the ranting going on inside the car. She had walked away as fast as she could, getting out of the parking lot, following the sidewalk and finally climbing up the few step stones to enter the building, but just as she was about to enter a strong hand holding her shoulder made her turn around to look at the man who had catch up with her.

Erica let out a puff with frustration. "No Boyd I told you already." she said shaking off the guy's hand, "I had enough of Cora's bitching for the rest of the week and it's just Monday."

"Come on to be so grumpy", he spoke in a soft and calm tone, "Besides, you're the one who said that Isaac would screw everything."

"Well he's as devious as a baked potato," she said not missing the way Boyd tried to hold back a smile, "But still this is _Cora_ we're talking about. Why couldn't he just keep his fucking trap shut?"

"Well…," he paused looking behind them and Erica also followed his gaze.

Back in the cavalier the last two teenagers were having a heated argue (more like Cora was just shouting at the curly haired blonde) about what happened back at the Hale Manor, actually it was more or less of the young girl saying over and over how stupid the boy was for spoiling her chance of driving her brother's Camaro for once. Cora was visibly fuming (and Erica could almost swear that her ass was as well) letting out all the anger she would usually build by nature, meanwhile Isaac was just staring at the girl with his typical puppy eyes and smile that was half amusement and half repentance. Both Boyd and Erica smiled at the features on Isaac's face because they both knew what those meant, despite the explosive mood the other girl showed everybody knew what was behind both teens. Not unlike the teens themselves.

Erica snorted. "Well then I guess I win the bet," she said and then looked at Boyd who was looking at her with confusion.

"What bet?" he was used to Erica sometimes saying things that made either no sense or were too confusing to even try to understand.

She gave him another smile one which made Boyd shiver with fear because those kind of smiles in her always meant mischief, and usually her '_deeds'_ always ended up biting him in the ass. Erica patted Boyd's shoulder and then kissed him in the cheek, "Ask Laura," she whispered close to his ear and headed into the building

Seeing her disappear behind the doors Boyd looked back at the other couple of teens and then back at the door. Letting out a sigh he decided to go after Erica. "Holy shit. What was it about this time?" he asked but his voice noted that he obviously didn't want to.

Erica smirked without looking back at him. "Oh nothing special," her grin got wider just by imagining Boyd's face, "Let's just say that Isaac is, fortunately or unfortunately, _way_ too into _that_ for his own good. So much that it seems he's not even aware of it."

"And what exactly do you mean by _'that'_?" the man frowns unable to understand most of the things the girl is saying… most of the times.

On the other hand Erica stops to look back at Boyd, her grin becoming even sassier. "Oh sweetie," she says leaning closer pecking his cheek, "I'm afraid you wouldn't understand unless you had that sixth sense that women have."

"What?" the teen was even more confused.

Changing her smile into a more playful one she stepped back and started pulling the boy. "Come on Sherlock we still have class." She says taking the guy's hand pulling him along.

So Boyd allowed the blonde girl to pull him along, not really sure of what her words meant or if he should be really worried that she and Laura had been making bets… _again_. But at the end of everything he can't help but feel happy that they still are who they are and do the things they do, and he couldn't have it any other way.

* * *

"So why are we doing this again?" he asked with a confused frown in his face.

The girl made a gentle smile and gave the boy a quick peck in the cheek. "Because," she paused closing the book from her hands, "You're terrible at studying by your own," having said that the girl copped the teen's cheek to make him look to the down on his lap, "So I'm here to make sure you focus on your book and nothing else." She patted him in the shoulder and gave him another peck in the cheek.

"Hey that's not..!"

"Eyes on the book." The girl quickly interrupted the boy forcing him to look at the book again by grabbing his chin.

"You know she's right Scott," said another girl who was glossing her lips, "You're already easy to distract and with Allison in the picture even more." Her gaze remained fixed on the little mirror she was using.

"That's not true!" complained Scott turning to her with a shocked look on his face while Allison once again turned his face towards the book.

"I wouldn't go against her if I were you McCall," the blonde guy sitting at the end of the couch scoffed looking at him, "But she's right you're actually easier to distract than a puppy." He laughed at the thought while Scott made another shocked face.

"You're no better you know?" said the girl right next to him grabbing his chin and forcing the blonde to look at the book on his hands. The boy frowned at her but she remained unimpressed. "Oh sweetie you know glaring doesn't work on me like with Scott or Stiles."

"Hey!" the other boy complained making a frown of his own, "I don't bend with Jackson's glare!"

"Oh yeah?" answered the blonde, "How about I bend you with my fist?"

"Focus." Said both girls forcing the boys to face their respective books.

The boys said no more forcing themselves to actually concentrate on the reading. Allison made a quick glance to her redheaded friend who kept a vigilant eye on the blonde boy, she was sure that if looks could kill Lydia's glare could set ablaze the entire campus and the thought made her giggle. Still despite her sometimes bossy nature Lydia could be really nice and caring towards other people even though she didn't actually show it too much, maybe because something inside of her forced her to keep a certain reputation that she wasn't willing to give up (Or as Stiles said she enjoyed being a bitch too much to just let it go). Then her eyes turned to the blonde boy beside her friend. Jackson was visibly sweating under the redhead's glare occasionally refraining his eyes from looking back at her, possibly out of the fear of suddenly bursting into flames if he dared to. The guy always seemed to be an arrogant smug who couldn't worry for anyone else but himself as she had thought at first (actually more like Stiles made him look like at first), but as she got to know him (just like with Lydia) she started to see under the layers and, as often, looks were quite deceiving. The guy was really caring and gentle with the people he considered close, always ready to help (even Stiles).

Both Lydia and Jackson were friends that Allison would never doubt to help if they ever asked her, and she knew she could always count on them whenever she had trouble.

Looking away from the odd couple that was Lydia Martin and Jackson Whittemore, Allison took a quick glance now to the boy sitting at her right by the other end of the couch. The boy she met at the beginning of high school and with whom she never thought (or maybe she had hopped… just a little) to end up with. A kid with messy-dark mop, cute-dimpled smile, and puppy-imploring eyes that just melted her right on the spot the first time she saw them all together. Her now boyfriend Scott McCall.

That time in high school had been a very hard one for each and every one of them; Jackson dealing with his identity crisis due the fact of discovering that his parents had adopted him; Lydia started to grow up from her vanity issues ('Although not really', as Jackson would say himself) because of the harsh judging that Stiles made about her after snapping one day at her (incidentally, that's how they became true friends); Scott dealing with his father's abandonment and the repercussions it had on his mother; Allison had to bear the emotional weight of her mother's deadly car accident which also caused her father to emotionally shut himself for the next three months; and finally Stiles who… actually it was hard to pinpoint what was going on with Stiles during that time. Not that no one cared, it was mostly because during that time the boy had started his actual habit (which still annoyed the fuck out of Jackson) of putting up this 'mask' when he was around people, a mask that grew bigger not only with the years but also as Stiles tended to drift away from people in general as if looking to always be alone.

Allison would sometimes wonder if it was mostly her fault. Mostly because everyone knew how Scott forgot about his almost brother Stiles since the moment she and Scott met. Probably Stiles had always resented her for taking away his only friend, of course it all was just mere conjecture as nothing ever came to be clarified between them. They sorta fell into a routine where they came together with everything else forgotten, or so it seemed.

"You're over thinking again." The sudden comment made Allison jump.

The girl frowned at her redhead friend. "I'm sorry?" not that she wanted to feign ignorance.

Lydia poked her between her brows with her pen making the girl frown at the contact. "Each time you're frowning it's because either something is really hard to understand _or_ because you're thinking _way_ too much about something," she moved the pen away, "And you over thinking something means you're worried." Ending with her usual enigmatic smiles.

Allison grinned at her, she wasn't really sure if she should be glad to have a friend that knew her pretty well or scared that said friend was Lydia. "I was just got caught up in memories," she said as if to not give it that much importance. Unfortunately her tone did and Lydia didn't let it pass her by.

"High school?" again Allison thought that Lydia was _way_ too intuitive for her own good (or rather for everyone else' good).

Before answering, mostly because she wanted to sort out her choice of words before speaking, Allison glanced at the boys, first to Scott and then to Jackson. Both guys had chosen to use their headphones (Scott used a big pair that pinned the mop down to his skull while the blond used little ones that didn't cover anything on him… or so he had said) while amazingly continue their reading, both shaking their head probably to the music's beat.

"I guess... I was just wondering-"

"Hey there gang!" one loud yell reaching over the mass of voices and sounds on the place made the girls turn around to look at their scrawny friend who was making a hurried entrance.

Stiles was heavily sweating and his chest was going up and down almost as if his heart was about to jump out of it, his panting gave away that he had practically ran from his last class to the loft where everybody (mostly college students) used to hang out between breaks or just for the comfort of it. The same loft where Stiles had to work part time to earn extra money. Actually it was a nice place to study regardless if you were a student or member of the working staff (the staff consisted mostly of the owner and four baristas running the place on different schedules) and you could easily relax most of the semester (unless you were part of the staff who suffered onslaughts of clients during midterms and finals). And Stiles being good at making not only coffee but also baking all sorts of pastries and delicious-coffee-accompaniment goodies (as Scott had named them while Jackson said how stupid it sounded) it was a good job where he could take his time relaxing in the things he enjoyed so much, taking free time every now and then to catch up with homework or study ahead of schedule for his own exams without neglecting his duties.

"Hey Stiles!" Allison was the first one to greet him, also standing up from her seat to give him a hug. Lydia simply smiled at him.

"Hey there... ladies," the boy was still gasping for some air for his overworked lungs.

"Lemme guess," interrupted Lydia while pulling out a notebook from her fancy Dolce & Gabbana bag, "Mr. Harris?"

Stiles groaned in frustration at the memory, Lydia's uncanny power of deduction no longer crept him out. "He went all Jackson on me," he groaned again before slumping his backpack on the floor.

"What was that?" the blonde boy was already taking off his headphones with a scowl on his face.

Stiles smirked. "I said that Mr. Harris went all jackass on me," he paused and smiled at the blonde's frown, "But I don't need to explain you how to do that right? You're good at that"

"Oh I'm sure you haven't seen the best way to be one Stilinski," Jackson was already standing in front of Stiles with both guys ready for a little punch up when both suddenly froze at the foot tapping the floor.

"Jackson," Lydia's steady and calm voice made both teens shiver while Allison remained quiet with a slight smile of amusement, "Do we really need to go through this again?" Jackson turned to look at her; she had her arms crossed over her chest with an expectant look on her face.

Stiles smiled at the option of Jackson, being his usual stupid self, to give the wrong answer and make Lydia explode… on second thought…

"Now, now, come on Lyds," he said nervously smiling at the girl, "No need to get so worked up with the fuckwad"

"Hey!"

"In any case", Stiles kept saying before Lydia made her glare of doom, "Why don't I hurry up and prepare for my shift and make for you girls the usual?" Lydia dropped off the glare to give Stile her usual enigmatic smile.

"Ok", she patted his cheek, "Just watch the foam honey." With that she went back to her seat, patting the spot where Jackson was supposed to be sitting.

The blonde took his seat sighing in frustration, and before he placed his headphones back he glared at Stiles and pointed at him. "I swear Stilinski, if you spit on mine again I'll claw you to shreds." Having said that he plucked the headphones back and tried to focus on the book.

Stiles sighed and rolled his eyes before looking at Allison.

"Can I have mine with a little bit more of cream this time?" she asked with a shy smile to which the boy only nodded with a smile of his own.

"Hey Stiles!" the sudden yell from Scott made both teens look at him. The messy-mopped teen was already standing and trapping his buddy in a hug. "When did you get here?"

Stiles smiled and shook his head without breaking the hug. His friend was really way too absent minded for his own good.

The clueless teen made a confused frown. "Did I miss something?"

"Not really Scotty-boy." He said patting his shoulder while stepping back from the hug. "Why don't I get going and make you your favorite one?" Stiles smiled when he saw his friend's face beaming at the offering.

"With extra cinnamon?" the messy-hair boy asked with a sly smirk.

Stiles just winked at Scott while picking up his backpack and pacing to the back of the loft. "You're awesome dude!" yelled Scott behind him and Stiles merely waved his arm in recognition.

Figuring that it was best for both for both them to get back on track Allison made Scott sit back on his place to keep studying, besides it was better to distract the teen (as if it was that hard to accomplish) than see him pacing back and forth while he impatiently waited for his coffee specially made by Stiles. Everybody knew that Stiles was especially good in the kitchen, and one of the big reasons why he easily got the job on the loft was because the owner was impressed by his talent when dealing coffee beverages. They all grew to love Stiles' special touch with each one's coffee, even Jackson (whenever Stiles didn't pour anything funny in it of course).

Knowing the hyperactive teen as she knew him Stiles would take 15 minutes at much preparing their tray, so Allison decided to take a seat and get some reading.

* * *

A square silver colored tray had three filled mugs with smoky and delicious smelling coffee, each one with different touches from the others. The barista preparing the fourth and last mug was happily whistling some random song he heard earlier today and just couldn't get it out of his mind.

"Stiles?" the voice behind him made the boy turn around to see his co-worker in turn.

"Hey there Dany-boy!" he replied with a big smile.

"Stiles your shift is five minutes. What are you doing back here?" after his question the boy took a quick glance over the smaller boy's shoulder spotting four filled mugs.

"I just wanted some friendly time before starting my shift." he said smiling at his friend taking the tray in both hands.

"Lemme guess," Danny paused while pulling out more mugs from one the cupboards, "Did Lydia get angry again?", he finished smirking.

"Oh don't you give me _that_ look Mahealani!" he said with feigned offense and pouting, "In any case you should know that is was that jerkface you call best friend who started it."

"Usually, right?" the hawaiian boy smirked again.

"Well he's your best friend so should know him better than anyone," the scrawny boy shrugged, "Anyway as soon as I'm done with this I'll take over so you can relax for your next class."

"That's really sweet of you, Sty." The soft tone the tanned boy used in that last words sent slight shivers down Stiles' spine just as the door was closing behind him. Not that Danny had to know.

Stiles and Danny had become acquaintances (or at the very least knew about each other's existence) back in high school went Stiles regarded Jackson as the greatest shithead in the universe (actually he still did but not so much than before). As far he knew Danny and Jackson were best friends since before high school and they pretty much enjoyed doing things together, which had struck Stiles as a real shock. Initially he had pictured (most like labeled) Jackson as real prick who took every chance he could of making fun of others by who they were and their circumstances, same for which said people were not really responsible. Probably the asshole frame he had place over Jackson started to crumble right when he learned that the blonde and Danny, who is openly gay, were actually friends.

Stiles would probably never say this out loud even if his life depended on it, but it was actually thanks to Jackson and his friendship with Danny that he had really learned what it meant to look far beyond the layers that people tended to build around themselves or look beyond the labels that bias made people build.

Snapping himself out of his thoughts Stiles came back to the couch that his friends were using, putting the tray on the small table in front of the couch and handing each mug to its respective owner: a café créme with extra creme for Allison; a café macchiato with slight foam for Lydia; an over-flavored-with-cinnamon cappuccino for Scott; and finally a double café doppio for Jackson. The last one sharpening his eyes at the slim barista before even he even leant to smell his coffee.

"Relax willya?" the boy rolled his eyes while the blonde boy kept staring at him, "Today I'm in a good mood so I didn't put anything on it." The blonde only pointed a finger at him as a warning and he just rolls his eyes..

They made some more chit chat while sipping their mugs until Stiles was already heading back to the back room to start his shift, where he found Danny out of his apron and putting something into his satchel. After some more sarcastic comments, snarky comebacks and slight flirting that mostly made Stiles feel awkward, Danny finally left for his next class leaving the slim kid alone to attend the loft. He figured he should get ready to bake some pastries and make snacks now that nobody was requiring attention but when he heard the counter's bell being smashed to death by some impatient client he sighed. He really wanted to get some baking done for today.

Glancing over the service window that connected the backroom to the loft he saw four teens by the counter waiting to be served. Two guys and two girls. The first one to get his attention was the taller boy with blonde and curly hair, matching the cuteness of his big smile and bright puppy-like eyes. Next to him was the girl currently smashing the bell as if in doing so all of her frustrations would vanish, she had long dark brown hair and eyes matching with her light toned skin, and also making a great contrast with her deep frown and the very-pissed-off look on her face. Then there was the second boy who was tall and dark, actually not as tall as the blonde kid but still had a good height, he was groaning and making frustrated faces as if he really didn't want to be there. Last there was a blonde chick with long frizzy locks swaying back and forth as she laughed, her smirk and big eyes shining with a gleam of mischief made her look like kind of a bitch (or so Stiles had thought immediately).

As the bell kept ringing under the girl's incessant punching Stiles sighed.

Mondays were _really_ a bitch.

* * *

The clock was now indicating eleven in the morning and the man looking at the hour had just finished reading some papers that were left for him over his elegant oak desk, he softly rubbed the bridge of his nose groaning over the fact that the day had just barely started and he was already this much fed up. Not also because of work and the multiple meetings he had to attend today, but also because her _dear_ and _lovely_ sister Laura had _finally_ sent him the so promised text with the details to go pick up their uncle later that day.

It was not that he hated his uncle or anything of the sort (except that sometimes he _really_ had the sudden urge to smother him to death with his own tie) but Derek was very reluctant to be alone with Peter for the time the ride lasted. His uncle had a nasty habit of drawing too much attention to himself, and unfortunately the people around him, by being too much… _'being too much Peter'_ he bitterly thought. If there was one only word allowed to describe his uncle at the time then Derek could easily pull out one word at the top of his mind, that word was _sassy_. Not exactly the word that would cover much of was Peter really was, but the raven haired man thought that it was close enough to actually explain why things always went out of control when hanging out with the older male.

Peter was also _way_ too unpredictable for Derek's sake.

The sudden buzzing in his pocket stole another groan from him, it was a bad omen and Derek could just feel it in the air. Not bothering to even read the name on the screen he quickly took the call not really surprised at all by the smugly voice on the other side.

"Good morning my sweet and cute Dery-boy." The soft tone of the older Hale as always was annoying as fuck for him.

Derek sighed. "Weren't you supposed to arrive tonight after eight?"

"As charming and polite as ever aren't you Dery-boy?" Derek could practically feel the smirk on his uncle's face. Just like with Laura.

"Damn it Peter!" he barked, "You know Mondays are a fucking turmoil at work and they keep me very busy. And stop calling me like that"

"Nop, I won't ever stop. And yes, you're right I _should_ have arrived later tonight, but I just figured I could take some time for myself and snoop around the city", he made a soft laughter.

After a few seconds Derek's brain switched at the words. "You lied to Laura about your arrival to not get dragged." It was more of an accusation.

"Dery-boy is not that I don't like Laura keeping me company but you _must_ understand that I'm _not_ that really eager to deal with a Laura-Hale-trademark-ranting after a flight." he sighed.

The young Hale winced at the memory. He, better than any other person from his family, knew how painful it was to endure a Laura-Hale-trademark-ranting, especially if he got stuck with that in the middle of a long car ride. Sometimes Derek had finished those days wishing he could've just shoved a drill through his ears.

"Besides," the older man spoke after a few seconds of silence from the young one, "It's a lot more fun to spend time with you my Dery-boy.", and he chuckled.

"Don't you mean that's is easier to annoy the fuck out of me and have your good share of laughter at my expense?", he growled. Definitely being the whole day stuck with his uncle was a horrible idea, more so if it was still _fucking_ Monday.

"Details. Not important. What _is_ important though is that I'll take my sweet sweet time attending personal business and I'll give you a call after five, ok?"

"Peter I told you-"

"Ah ah Dery-boy." He quickly interrupted. "If there's one thing I know about your work schedule is that since you hate Mondays sooo much you always, and I repeat, _always_ arrange all of your meetings to start in sequence at noon and, since you like to go pretty damn fast through the topics, they usually last all together an hour and a half at much." his uncle chuckled again. "So don't give me your 'I am busy' excuse, ok?"

"Peter I…," Derek made a paused and let out a sigh as he weighed the possible outcomes. "As long as you promise _not_ to be hooked up with anyone when I get there." Taking into account past experiences Derek decided to go with that, because having to drag along an innocent soul was not fair. Besides it was the option with least possibilities of him getting into embarrassing situations. _'Not very likely but still.'_

"Ugh, are you serious?", he whined.

"Peter." he growled as a warning.

Finally the older Hale sighed in frustration. "Fine. You win. No hook ups."

"You better." he warned again.

"You're no fun." he grumbled. "Anyway see you later Dery-boy. Love you."

"Ok, later. Love you too. And stop calling me like that!" he snapped before dropping the call.

Derek sighed once more before staring at the black screen of his phone. He really didn't think that his uncle could stay clear of trouble, or better yet stay away from potential trouble for him. Which _was_ the usual case. So with another frustrated groan he headed for the conference room.

Mondays are _totally_ a bitch.


	2. Chapter 2- After sunset

A/N: Hey there guys.

I'm finally back with the update and I gotta say 'Thanks to every one.'

Thanks for the views, the follows, the favorites and _the_ review. XD

Hope you enjoy this new chapter as I enjoyed writing it. Also before I get hit in the head with a fluorescent light, _again_, I want to apologize for not including the disclaimer in the last chapter... you know before i get sued or something.

DISCLAIMER: Teen Wolf and its characters do not belong to me and this fic is purely for the purpose of entertaining.

Now that that's out of the way lets roll.

Have fun. :)

* * *

Chapter 2. - After sunset

Today had been a day off from most of his responsibilities back in the office, mostly because everything for the week had been already solved by Wednesday and every pending detail was left on hold for next week. So for the next two days Derek was mercilessly being drag around town by both his uncle and older sister, and being today Friday with the clock signaling that it was now four in the afternoon all he wanted was for the day to be over, have a nice relaxing evening and have a good night sleep. Of course the other two Hale family members had no such intention.

"Der Der! Look!" the perky call from his sister made him mentally growl. "Don't you think those shoes would look pretty nice on me?"

Derek took a quick look at said shoes before shrugging. "Whatever."

Laura just frowned at him. She was very well acquainted on Derek language so she instantly glared at him after traducing the 'whatever' supplemented by the shrug. The translation being: 'I don't really give a damn. Now fucking buy something so we can get the hell out of here.'

"Oh _really_?" she said in a _very_ distinctive emphatic way for Derek's liking to which he frowned with concern (concern for himself that is), "Then how about instead I buy that shirt over there, then take it to mom and _casually_ comment on how adorable you would look with it, huh? Der Bear?" she finished with a smirk.

As the young Hale turned around to see said shirt his eyes were opening wide and his jaw was almost down on the floor. "_Hell_ no!" he immediately yelled making several buyers spring up frightened, "Don't even _think_ about it! I swear Laura, if you as much go and buy that shirt I'll tell father about the little incident in the pool!"

The Hale sister gasped. "You dirty little voyeur!" again even more people turned their head towards the two arguing siblings. "I knew you were spying on us!"

"Believe me my _dear_ big sister, it was the last thing I could've ever wish for. I had _nightmares_ for the next three weeks!"

As the ranting, the screaming and the guilt trips carried on Peter was just standing a few feet away from them, fighting to contain the outburst of laughter that was menacing from blowing out of his throat. So to help distract the laughter he turned his head looking at the piece of cloth that, indirectly and unwillingly, started the now ensuing verbal war. The shirt was black with a very… _flashy_ (being the most appropriate word that came to his mind) printed image on the center of the chest. Said shirt beared the image of a very cute and chubby teddy bear snuggling a big and bright red heart that had the words 'I need a hug' printed on it. With the image of a frowning Derek bearing said shirt on his mind a well contained laughter once again fought to emerge from within him, making him choke and bend over forcing Peter to sustain himself from the nearest wall available.

Peter knew exactly why Derek refused immediately at Laura's threat. Probably most people would assume that it was _fucking _obvious but, truth be told, the determining factor for Derek's refusal was to involve his mother on the matter. If there was one well known factor to the Hale Family it was the usual bitterness in the boy's personality, which was very well displayed through the day-in and day-out by his usual frown. If Laura had owned her ranting-trademark then Derek had the award for trademarking the frown. Usually the Hale boy would reject and neglect anything that didn't immediately appeal him in any way whatsoever, usually scowling at Laura whenever she tried to drag him into something or ignoring Cora's barking; however, the _only_ available way for Derek to cave in and actually _agree_ to do _anything_ at all was through his mother. Talia Hale was the only person in the world who was able to persuade Derek to do all the things the boy would _never_ do in his right mind. Even now Talia is still the only person who can make Derek do anything… needless to say that as any other mother her usual weapon was guilt… just sometimes.

When a half-contained laughter came to his ears Derek stopped his debate with Laura to look back at his uncle who was now on the verge of really bursting into laughter, so bend by it that if it wasn't for the hand holding onto the wall he would already be rolling on the floor. The young man frowned knowing exactly why his uncle was trying so hard to not laugh, and Laura who had follow his gaze to their uncle also got the message, which is why she was victoriously grinning.

After more several shouts security finally took action.

On their way back from the shopping mall (more like they didn't really have any other option after being thrown out) Derek was driving with his usual frown, Laura was on the passenger seat whining about the rest of the stuff she couldn't get to buy, and Peter was merrily humming in the back seat while scrolling pictures on his phone. _'Another typical Hale Shopping evening.'_ Derek thought to himself. As much as Derek would've appreciated the much needed silence of a ride back home, being with Laura in a whiny mode didn't really help much.

Not at all.

After driving for a few more miles and hearing to the famous Laura-Hale-Ranting Derek had finally decided to focus his sister's bickering into another oral fight, all it took for it was for Derek to make another snarky comment about her behavior and then hell could break loose. Both Hale brothers started another argue about who was the most infuriating of the two, or who did the most embarrassing thing, or who was the most annoying. _'Both if ask me.'_ Thought Peter slipping on his headphones to drown the shouting in loud music. An hour later the shining black Camaro was parking in front of the Hale Manor with both brothers having dry throats and hoarse voices, while Peter had his usual smugly face and swaying to the beat of whatever tune he was listening to.

The family members got out of the car and moved the few bags (most of them being a third of what Laura actually had intended to buy or so she said) inside the house leaving them on the couch of the big living room.

"Well at least I got that smooth cream I needed for my legs." She commented in a nonchalant tone while signaling the last bag that Derek was placing down.

Derek quickly looked back at her with a hint of disgust. "I hate you."

"Ok you two." quickly said Peter when he foresaw another debate between the glaring brothers. "Could you _please_ try act like civilized brothers? I think we had enough bickering back on the mall and all the way back. Don't you think?"

Before they could even open their mouths to argue another voice interrupted. "Uncle Peter!" Cora entered the living room running to hug the older male.

"Hey there beauty." he hugged her a few seconds before she backed up without breaking the hug to look at the man.

"You're a terrible uncle you know that?" she pouted. "You've been here since Monday and I just got to see you today!"

Peter smiled. "Well my dear you know how awfully busy I can get, but don't worry I'll make it up to you." he lightly pinched her nose.

"By being busy he means getting plastered every night." said Derek smirking.

"Or getting one or several people into the same bed." added Laura smiling.

"Or both." finished Peter with an amused smile when both brothers sighed.

"Ugh that is so like you Peter." groaned Laura while rolling her eyes.

"Well it sounds like fun." said Cora smiling devilishly. "Count me in next time."

"Like hell you will." barked Derek almost immediately. "You may be already twenty-one years old but you're still a kid." when Cora started to glare at him Derek smiled remembering something important. "Besides what about Isaac?" the teen blushed at the name of the curly haired blonde, looking away from Derek as if she didn't understand what he was talking about.

"Oh don't you worry my beauty." says Peter making all three brother to look at him while putting an arm around Cora's shoulders. "We can include your little friend as well." he smirked.

"Peter." the stern voice that echoed through the big hall made everyone froze, even Peter.

When everybody turned their heads towards the entrance of the living room that connected with the lobby they saw a tall woman with long dark hair and eyes carefully studying everyone, matching and expectant look on her face that was alternating between doing a frown and making an amused look. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her foot was tapping the floor, indicating she obviously heard every word of the conversation and was waiting for a thorough explanation.

"And exactly in _what_ will you be including my dear children?" the look on her face turned inquisitive.

"Well my dear, sweet and loving sister." he sweetened his words while letting go of Cora and walking over to the older woman. "I just wanted to provide some great and _totally_ healthy fun to my dear family, namely Cora, who I couldn't see since I arrived in town." the older Hale rested his hands on both shoulder of the woman making an apologetic and smiley face. "I assure you, it has _always_ been my duty as uncle of these children to protect them from harm."

"Well that's very nice of you." her smile made all three Hale siblings to look at her cautiously, "Just don't force me to put a restraining order on you, ok?" Peter smiled mischievously.

"You can count on that my dear sister." he said kissing her in the temple.

"Relax mom," said Laura nonchalantly, "It's not like Peter would introduce us to his secret drug dealing business."

"Unfortunately with someone like Peter you can never be sure." Added Derek receiving an amused look from his uncle.

"I still think it sounds like fun." said Cora with a playful look on her face.

"You should also keep thinking about what your father told you yesterday young lady." said Talia, and just before the young Hale girl could protest she raised her brown as a warning for her daughter. "Now."

Last Wednesday Cora had, yet again, tried to get ahold of Derek's Camaro by tricking him, again. Needless to say that she came with another intricate story to soften her big brother and convince him to lend her the Camaro just for the rest of the day; however, it was thanks to Isaac's naiveness that her plan was ruined, again. Her father had grounded her for the weekend and, instead of driving her brother's Camaro, she had to spend the rest of the day yelling at the curly haired blonde, again.

"Ugh fine." she said with an exasperated sigh and left the room, her stomping echoing.

They remained in silence hearing the echoing of Cora's heavy stomping until it was completely out of hearing range. "Now," said Talia suddenly, "As for you two," she signaled Derek and Laura making both siblings nervous, "Can I ask _why_ did I got a call from the shopping mall, again?" when she saw both siblings ready to make excuses for themselves (or more like ready to blame each other) she raised a hand to stop them, "Ok, both of you just listen," she cleared her throat, "I don't care who started what or whose fault was it, what I _do_ care is that both of you need to stop fighting over every little thing _and_ you need to stop giving to any kind of social media more reasons to be on our tails. Now, since I'm starting to get a headache, why don't kids go to do whatever you're supposed to be doing now, ok?" With that she headed for the kitchen pressing her temples.

The remaining three Hales stood there in complete silence, eyes fixed on the exit the woman had used. When Peter figured that his sister was no longer within ear range he smirked at the siblings. "You kids _really_ like to get into trouble, right?"

"Well if Laura knew when to shut up this wouldn't happen, although that's probably never gonna happen." Derek said all snarky crossing his arms and awaiting his sister's comeback.

Laura, on the other hand, merely stared at him with a blank expression for a few seconds before speaking. "You're lucky mother is just two rooms away from us." Having said that she took her bags from the couch and headed for her room, making light steps unlike her younger sister.

Derek was struggling to fight back the urge of a dumbfounded expression while Peter just shook his head with amusement.

"Well my dear nephew, I have to go as well. Important business calls to make." The older Hale went to the couch to grab a bag of his own and walked to Derek to drape an arm over the younger man's shoulder. "Now, before I go, Do you remember what I told you on Monday?" he looked at the boy with an expectant look.

Derek groaned before answering. "Peter I usually try to forget everything you say to me. Life is already exerting enough without your mental-scaring sex adventures." he complained brushing off his uncle arm from him. "And, by the way, remember that mother is here so no booty calls, _please_."

The older man gasped in disbelief (feigned of course). "You offend me Derek. I _am_ capable of performing calls that do not involve sex. Also FYI, those are _preventing_ tales my dear nephew." he said smirking, "And _you_ are lucky that I'm willing to share them with you. Now, returning to my question. Do you remember or not?" he crossed his arms.

The younger Hale sighed. "Yes, I _do_ remember, unfortunately of course. You said to _not _make _any_ kind of plans, remarking the same words as you did, for next Saturday night."

The man grinned. "Yes, correct my dear Dery-boy. Tomorrow night is a Hale-Male-Only night. You and I are going out to have a hell of a night."

Derek stared at him like he had grown a second head. "I don't like the way you're saying that."

Peter who was already walking out of the living room stopped at the entrance at looked back at Derek with a foxy grin. "Believe me Dery-boy, you're going to like it and you _will_ also thank me for it. Of this I _am_ sure."

Derek remained silent, focusing only on the sound of his uncle's footsteps fading away. Once he couldn't hear them anymore he let out the breath he didn't know he was holding, feeling a little bit disturbed by the last words of the older man. It's not like Derek wasn't used to Peter's weird choice of words or his even weirder way of using them, nor even that most of his uncles' speeches weren't even something to think much about anyway (more like he didn't want to think about them anyway). What really had disturbed Derek was the tone and mysterious grin that Peter used with his last words, almost as if he was able to see something that nobody else could. A treat that he only had seen in his mother… and the thought of his uncle able to do the same was scary.

Rubbing his face with both hands Derek took the last bag resting on the couch (the only thing he got to buy no thanks to Laura) and headed for his room. He would first take a shower and then go through some papers in the comfort of his bed.

* * *

"I still think option B is better." he said with a frown.

Everybody groaned at the voice of the messy-mop boy who was seated on the floor, an arm draped over his girlfriend's leg who was sitting on the love chair of the small living room. Allison had her hand resting on the back of Scott's neck with a thumb gently brushing it.

"Honey, we already told you why it isn't." she gave the boy a smile.

"Okay enough." said Lydia who was seated on the only chair of the kitchen table, tapping her red fingernails against the old looking wood of the table. "You're just being childish because Jackson got the right answer before you." said blonde snorted.

"What a baby McCall."

Scott gasped. "That's not true. Besides you just got it right because you're sitting right next to Lydia." he said pointing at the redheaded girl.

The girl kept her eyes on her notebook while the blonde, who was sitting in the same way near Lydia as Scott to Allison, frowned. "Or maybe it means I _do_ pay attention to class," he smirked, "unlike some daydreamer that stares at his phone's wallpaper _all _day."

In an instant Scott's face was redder than a tomato while Allison was very surprised by the information. The blushed boy tried to make a comeback but all words got stuck in his throat and could only stammer a few words, while his girlfriend remained calm and kept the rubbing over the boy's neck. An amuse smile on her face.

"Really Scott?" asked the girl making Scoot blush even more, "You know baby, I actually thought you did as much," she said making the boy look at her with surprised eyes, "But all day?"

"I just- I mean- Is not-," as he stammered more and more Allison's smile just got wider.

"Oh sweetie, that's so cute." she said launching herself to hug the boy.

"Oh come on you two," groaned Jackson, "Quit it with the honey rain, will ya?"

"To be fair you're the one who started the fireworks with your comment." said Lydia nonchalantly.

"What? Now you're on their side?" the blonde turned to her with an annoyed face.

"Okay, _enough_ you guys," said Stiles from the green bean bag he was sitting leaning against the wall line were the living room and the kitchen joined, "We're getting sidetracked, _again_." he made a loud groan. "Could we _please_ get back to the real deal here? We're supposed to be studying for our next test."

"Well we could if McCall could stop being such a baby."

"And you're cheating." said the messy-haired boy immediately.

Once the boys started discussing, once again, Stiles sighed in frustration. "Girls," he called them out, "Could you _please_ help me out here?"

Both girls looked back at each other, thing that the scrawny teen didn't like at all, before they once again turned to him. "Apple pie?" they said at the same time.

Stiles groaned again burying his face in his hands. "Fine, whatever, I don't care but just- _please_."

Both girls made a pleased smile, and after Allison gave a significant look to Lydia, the redheaded girl cleared her throat. "Quiet!" she yelled scaring both Scott and Jackson while Stiles merely flinched. He was definitely never going to get used to _that_. "You two idiots better stop it now or, I swear to god, I'll make the rest of the day a living hell for both of you." While the two arguing boys paled in fear Stiles shivered, mostly because he knew Lydia since long ago and he was very well aware, just as everybody else, that she indeed had the power to do so.

The most terrifying thing was that Lydia only needed the rest of the day, maybe just a few hours or even less than that, to make them feel true hell. Everybody, including Allison, knew how true this fact was.

After a few seconds of silence Lydia spoke again. "I want my share with extra frosting, ok?" she said after giving Stiles the ever so enigmatic (and bit creepy) smile of hers and then she went back to reading her notes.

Silence filled the room for a whole minute, so Allison decided to break it. "So let's pick up where we left." She said grabbing her notebook before placing a small kiss on Scott's temple.

Stiles also grabbed his notebook while muttering 'thank you.'

For the next hour or two the group continued their studies as much as they could, of course it goes without saying that both Jackson and Scott kept digressing every now and then either by sliding away from the topic or get caught in another stupid discussion only to be immediately shut up by one of Lydia's yells.

Finally the study session came to an end when Stiles' phone rang with an alarm he had set himself; it was already four in the afternoon.

"Well I guess that's as good as we can manage for today." said Allison stretching up her arms.

"No thanks to these two." when both guys looked at her with offended looks she added. "No seriously, you guys just kept bickering back and forth like a couple of wolves fighting over the last bunny leg."

"I wouldn't have said anything if Scott weren't such a baby."

"Well if you hadn't been cheating..."

"Cut it out!" another yell from Lydia once again appeased the teens.

Stiles decided to take the dirty dishes and glasses to the sink, leaving them to dunk for a while so it would be easier to wash them later. He turned around and smiled at the scene. Lydia was still scolding the guys while they looked like a couple of puppies bending their ears down with an apologetic look on their faces. Allison merely stood behind the bossy girl with an amused look on her face, almost retaining a grin. This made Stiles smile. Their friends were the most precious thing he had in school, in this big town, in this cold world.

Life has been really hard for him since a few years back.

Suddenly a buzz in his pocket snapped him out of his thought, he quickly scrambled to reach his phone form inside his pocket, glancing at the screen that marked two new text messages. For just a fraction of a second Stiles frowned at the name tags in screen and huffed as low as possible, grateful that Lydia's scolding was louder than the sound traffic was giving off.

"Um guys," Lydia suddenly stopped her ranting and everybody turned to him, "I need to go out for a moment, so just close the door on your way out." he said quickly heading for the door.

"Hey dude, hold on." the scrawny boy was suddenly stopped when Scott's hand gripped his elbow. "Is everything alright?" he looked at his friend with a concerned look.

"Let him be McCall, he's probably just late for a date or something." said Jackson.

"Ugh no jackass, I don't have a date I just need to go to speak to the landlord."

"The landlord?" asked Allison looking puzzled.

"Yeah, you know." answered Stiles gesturing the room. "The _owner_ of the place I'm living in right now." Allison rolled her eyes with a defeated sigh, very well used to Stiles' sarcasm.

"But dude what's wrong?" asked Scott again, another worried look on his face.

Stiles sighed, his friends could be very nosy when he least needed it. "Nothing man, chill." he quickly said trying not to make a big thing out of it but then when Scott's look wouldn't go away he added "I just need to renew my contract with him. Remember? Every resident of the building needs to make a contract to use an apartment."

"Ooooh." said both Allison and Scott which made Stiles snort with amusement.

"Now, if the 21 questions are over I would like to go and catch the landlord before he vanishes again." having said that he quickly went outside closing the door behind him. The others remained quiet for a few minutes.

"Is it me or was he kind of jumpy?" asked Jackson staring at the door.

"Well he certainly looked kind of anxious." said Allison, "Then again he sometimes worries too much, don't you think?"

"Maybe he's just worried about the test," said Scott nonchalantly, "I don't worry for him, he's going to be alright. He's quite smart and has a scholarship after all."

"Maybe you should also get yourself some smarts McCall." said Jackson laughing, "Just first learn how to use them." Scott just gave him the finger.

Allison took a few steps aside and smiled while watching the boys bicker yet again, until her eyes drifted to Lydia. The redheaded girl was still staring at the door, her eyes fixed in a blank glance to the wooden piece. Allison knew her friend too well and that look was the one she had every time she had a hard time understanding something, which was a rare sight considering that the girl was quite clever to always catch onto something hidden beneath words and actions. All that lead to one only thing. Did Stiles just lie to them about seeing the landlord? Or even yet. What was it? Was it something so bad that Stiles didn't want them knowing about it? By the look Lydia's eyes were starting to twitch around Allison figured that her friend already was making more questions than answers inside her mind.

"Well I didn't know it was for that!" the yell from Scott brought Allison put her thoughts.

"It was on the fucking instructions McCall!", Allison giggled when he saw Jackson raising his voice to reach the same tone Scott's voice had, the blonde's face was starting to get red.

"Okay enough." said Allison standing in between the boys, placing her hands each on both guys shoulders. "Scott, remember that we need to meet my Dad in the storage, which is a bit far from here." she adjusted the strap of her backpack, "So let's get going."

"Oh shit, that's right." he quickly scrambled away to grab his backpack as well, "Lets hurry up. I don't want your Dad to shoot me with another of his fancy-super-high-tech guns." he winced at the memory.

"Scott it was an accident." groaned Allison.

"Ally, please. Do you really expect me to believe that a highly trained gun expert like your dad could just shoot a bullet by mistake at the door that, coincidentally, was being open by me?" he gave her a disbelieving look.

"I told you already, they package had just been delivered and the trigger was more sensitive than what he thought it was."

"Oh please, I'm pretty sure your dad heard me coming down the sidewalk from five miles away and just seized his chance." he said stepping out and walking to the elevator.

"Scott." she whined running behind the messy-haired boy.

When both Scott and Allison's voices couldn't be heard Jackson assumed that both had gotten into the elevator. So snorting with amusement he went to close the door while shaking his head. Those two could be a real entertaining show sometimes. He turned around to see Lydia staring at space with a lost look on her face, a look that he knew very well. Her girlfriend was trying to unravel something she couldn't understand very well… which said a _fucking_ lot.

"What's wrong babe?" he asked, concerned that someone as smart as Lydia had trouble understanding something.

"Hmm?" she said turning her to eyes to the blonde man. "I'm sorry, what?"

"What's wrong Lyds? You seem awfully distracted. Something bothering you?" he held both her hands in his.

"No." she said fully returning from her torpor but when he saw Jackson frowning at her with concern she added, "It's nothing. Come on let's go too." she patted his cheek. "Your dad must be already out of his case and waiting for us." she took her bag and started to walk to the door.

Jackson knew Lydia very well, and if she had already changed the topic it meant either that she didn't want to talk about or it wasn't worth the effort. Best not to insist and piss her off. "Let's go then." he also grabbed his pack and paced after the redhead girl.

They both started to make small talk about other things on their way to the elevator, mostly Lydia saying what to do for the weekend. So closing the door behind them the apartment remained silent with nothing but a few echoes of the voices trailing down the hallway to the elevator.

* * *

He checked his wristwatch one more time before huffing with annoyance, he felt uneasy and anxious because he wanted this to be over with as soon as possible. Also he didn't want anybody to see him there, hence why he was sitting the table that was the furthest one away from any window. He wanted to think that his friends took their sweet time leaving his apartment, which meant (hopefully for him) that he had been able to slip in here without any of them spotting him. He made a slight jump when the waitress was putting his coffee in front of him, so immersed in his thoughts that he never noticed her approaching. Once he was alone again he took a glance at his watch once again.

"Waiting for someone?" a stern and low voice caused the boy to look away from his watch. Stiles frowned.

"In fact I am,_ and _you're late." he said unimpressed (and bit angry) by the man standing before him.

The man was tall with lean strong built muscles hiding under a white button up shirt, sleeves folded over his elbows. Strong and hairy hands hiding in the pockets of his khaki colored slacks, with brown dress shoes. Bright short blonde hair vaguely coifed with a few loose forelocks and big dark grey eyes boldly checking Stiles from top to bottom.

"Stop that." he said exasperated and the man smirked.

"I'm sorry my dear young man, but you must understand that it can't be helped." he took the seat across from the boy.

"Ok, cut the courting crap and get to the point." Stiles took a sip of his coffee.

The man grinned. "Well the thing is I called you because next weekend-"

"I'm not going to work that weekend." he interrupted immediately, knowing where this was supposed to go. "You know I made arrangements to have_ that_ specific weekend free."

"Lovely," he said chuckling, "_As I was saying_, next week there's an event, a very important one and, even though I _promised_ you that weekend off, I _really _need your help for this event." he smiled at the young man. "Especially for Sunday."

"Well, I'm pretty aware of what the _event_ is about," he paused taking another sip, "_And_ I already said that I'm _not_ doing it." the boy crossed his arms over his chest, a frown forming in his face.

The man giggled. "My dear and beautiful boy," he paused smiling at him while Stiles only glared at him, "May I remind you _why_ are you involved in this?"

Before saying anything Stiles kept taking sips from his coffee, closing his eyes and taking in every word the blonde man said. Not that he was particularly excited about this "event" or anything. He was not ignorant and knew pretty well what the other man was talking about, but he was really wishing not to be part of it for various reasons. He opened his eyes and saw the other man with his chin gently resting over his intertwined fingers, elbows on the table and that smile with a hint of sassiness that made Stiles insides unpleasantly wrench.

"Remember," said the man first when he saw Stiles opening his mouth to say something, "The only reason why I'm doing this is because is the anniversary. You know I wouldn't even dream of bothering you with this _if_ it weren't something _really_ important." he gave the smile again.

"I know." he answered trying to sound nonchalant about it. Obviously he couldn't.

"So?" the boy raised his brow in confusion at the question. "I can tell by the look on your face that you're dying to input some conditions." he smiled at the boy again.

Stile only took another sip of his coffee. He hated when other people ('_Mostly this bastard'_) were able to pick on his inner thoughts. "Well, I do." he finally said, "I _do_ have conditions for you. _If_ you want me to help out with the celebration."

"Ok then." he gestured for him to continue, "I'm listening."

"First," he paused raising a finger, "No private sessions," when the other man raised a brow he quickly added, "They tend to take too fucking long and I will _not_ waste too much time, especially time that was supposed to be free, ok?"

The man nodded.

"Second," another finger was risen, "Remember the special clause that was added to my contract?" he waited for the man nod, "Well I'm using it on Sunday," when Stiles saw him frowning he quickly said, "That day I will start working only after midnight."

The man tilted his head for a moment. "I see," his grin became somewhat satisfied. "But won't it cause you problems on Monday?"

"Monday next to _that_ weekend is free for me." he said finishing his coffee. Using a tone that was clearly saying it was none of his fucking business.

"Ok then, I'll make sure to tell my secretary so she can make the proper arrangements." he said with another smile that made Stiles' stomach churn.

"As long as we're clear on that I won't complain." he finished crossing his arms over his chest. Another frown in his face.

"Well," he paused lifting up his head and untangling his fingers, "I'll need to re-work the schedule for Saturday and make a few calls, but otherwise everything else is no problem at all."

"Ok then," he said tossing a few dollars over the table, "Then I guess we're done here." he said ready to leave.

"Wait."

Stiles groaned looking at the ceiling. "Now what?"

"Please." he gestured the seat. The boy sighed with resignation and took his seat again.

"Anything else?" his tone made it clear that he really didn't want to be there anymore.

The man smile again and Stiles felt like he was starting to lose control over the urge of just punching the guy right across the face. "You _do_ realize what is at stake here, right?" he said never losing his smile.

"I'm not an idiot," he paused leaning forward on the table, "I would have my share of trouble if anything ruins the reputation of the Pack, so stop treating me like I don't know what the fuck is going on. I hate that." Stiles leaned back to his seat crossing his arms again. "Is there _anything_ else?"

"No." he paused a moment, "That would be all… for now." he smiled.

"Thanks, and next time make sure you just _text me_ this kind of things instead making me go through this shit." he said quickly standing up and leaving the place without looking back.

The man remained seated without moving from his place, his smile still in place and body unfazed even when his pocket started to shake with his phone's vibrator going crazy. With delicacy proper of a noble he slipped his hand inside the pocket, gently pulling out the phone and placing it over his right ear after hitting the accept call button.

"Alpha speaking." he quickly said sounding very cheerful.

"Someone sounds very happy today." the voice of a woman came through.

"I am actually." he said chuckling. "What news do you have for me?"

"Well I'm pleased to inform, _your majesty,_ that our little twins are finally back in town." she chuckled.

"Ah, splendid." he said checking the time in the clock hanging on the restaurant's wall. It was half past six.

"So," the voice caught his attention, "How did it go with our number one star?"

"Well I'm happy to inform you that he's in." he made a devilish smile.

"Well that's no surprise," she said nonchalantly, "You always manage to get what you want. It's not really that much of a revelation you know."

The man chuckled. "Well, my dear and efficient Miss. secretary," she heard her made and amused snort, "It all depends on how you approach the situation and use the weaknesses of others against them for your own advantage."

"And _that's_ why you're the boss."

"Precisely."

"So," she paused for a moment, "What's in for _this_ weekend? I ask because you know we still haven't decided on this weekend's theme. Also I ask because Aiden has been a fucking pain in neck with that."

"When is he not?" he asked earning a laugh from the woman. "Anyway I have been thinking about that and I was wondering that since Easter holidays are not that far away, How about we go with a carnival theme? Maybe something Brazilian."

"Hmm…," the long pause made the man smile with amusement.

"You're actually overthinking it? I never would've guessed you would have second thoughts."

"Urgh." she made a loud sigh, "No you idiot, I was already planning ahead for details and decorations."

The man laughed. He should have known better about her ever efficient secretary, this being one of the many reasons that always reminded him of why they worked together. "So I guess that means you don't need me anymore, right?"

"You can bet your sweet ass on it." they both laugh for a few seconds before the woman spoke again. "So since you're going out of town for the weekend, should I mail you the details later? Just so you can know how is it gonna be. I don't want you all snarly and ripping my head off later."

"You're just never gonna let me forget _that_, right?"

"Ever since _that,_ I learned the true essence of my duty." she giggled. "Now, Do you want me to mail you the info or not?"

"Just text me the important things, I don't really think I'll be able to check my email during this weekend."

"Understood. Thy will be done."

The man chuckled. "See you next week Miss Efficient Secretary."

"See you next week Mr. Alpha Boss."

Once the line was off the man slipped the phone back into his pocket, and checking the clock once more he tucked his hands in his pockets and left the place.

Even though he managed to convince his favorite kid to work for him on his supposed free weekend (which he still was smirking for that victory) he still had many thing he needed to left resolve before he absented himself for the weekend.

* * *

"Yes, I know already." his voice was whispering to the phone, carefully listening to the answer on the other end of the line.

"I see, what else did you find out?" he said nodding at everything being said through the line.

"Really?! I thought that had been cleared years ago." the man frowned, not liking the information he was receiving.

"Damn it," he complained rubbing the bridge of his nose and sighing.

"Ok listen, I need you to-"

"Dad?"

"Look my daughter is here so I need to go." he paused his movements hearing to the voice on the other side. "Don't worry about it, as soon as I get my hands on it I will personally give it to you." He stopped again listening to the reply on the other side and rolling his eyes at the answer.

"Dad where are you?" the voice of the girl echoed again.

"In the back office honey!" he yelled to his daughter, turning his voice low again to answer the phone. "Don't worry, leave it to me. And _seriously_ laid off that weird tone, will you?" and not really eager to hear the answer to that he hung up the phone.

"Dad?" when the man turned around he saw his daughter appearing at the door.

"Ah, Allison." the man quickly stood up to go and hug the young girl.

"Hey dad." she said before opening her arms and receiving her father's hug. "I'm glad we made it on time," she paused backing a little to face her father without breaking the hug.

"Well I still had a few things to sort out before heading out. Besides, is not like I was going to go leaving you two behind" The man took a few seconds to look through the door, "By the way, where's Scott?"

"Well," Allison was the one to break the hug stepping back with a playful smile, "He said he would wait outside for us."

Chris frowned with confusion. "Why?"

"Well, for starters he said he wasn't too eager to get shot, _again_." she smirked.

Chris was slightly trembling because of the half contained chuckle. "How many more times do I have to apologize to him for that?" the girl only sharpened her eyes, "Honey, you know it was an accident. The trigger was way more sensitive than what I thought it was."

"True," she paused to nod, "the trigger in that rifle indeed _was_ very sensitive, but I don't really think that my _bow_ was sensitive at all." she crossed her arms looking at her father with a reproachful expression. "Or that it had a _trigger_ for that matter."

"The string wasn't well adjusted," he shrugged, "Actually you ought to be more careful with your bow honey."

The girl gaped. "Oh my god, you're really trying to blame _me_?"

"Now, now honey. You know you need to assume your responsibility." he said in a fatherly tone taking his coat from the rack and walking out from the office.

The girl gaped again. "Like the time you _accidentally_ shot a magnum bullet near Scott's head?"

"Well if Scott had made it clear he was in the room instead of sneaking around I wouldn't have gotten all jumpy." he shrugged.

"Dad, we got there _together_" she turned her eyes to the ceiling, asking for patience. "Oh," she said suddenly remembering something, "And how about the time when Scott was helping you to clean the shotguns and you _accidentally_ made yours shoot at Scott's feet?"

"Honey you know that is was actually Scott who shot _himself_ at his feet, nobody asked him to unlock the weapon." he shrugged while walking out of the office. Allison was trailing behind him.

"Well you should've told him you know?"

As father and daughter kept bickering back and forth (mostly just Allison remembering old _accidents_) they both made it to front of the storage where Scott was waiting for them, sitting in a lotus position over a couple of empty squashed boxes stacked together. The messy-haired boy smiled when he saw both Allison and his father come out of the storage (mostly because he saw Chris's hands devoid of any kind of weapon that could potentially blast a hole through him). He quickly jumped from his place to greet the older man.

"Hey Mr. Argent." he smiled as wide as he could.

Chris smirked when he saw Scott approaching; the kid had made a slight shiver. "Hello Scott." he took the boy hand shaking it a bit tightly, the young one flinched. "Thank you kid, it's good to know that I can count on you to watch over Allison for me."

"No problem sir," the boy kept shaking hands, "Wherever she goes I go too to protect her." he said with a big smile… and starting to get nervous when the older man started to tighten the grip even more.

"Excuse me," both turned to her, "Do I have to remember you _both_ that I don't _need_ any protection?" She turned to Scott, "Last time I helped you to practice for one of your lacrosse games I literally wiped the floor with you because I turned out to be faster than you." Leaving Scott with an embarrassing blush Allison then turned to her father. "And _you_," she smiled internally when she saw the older man tensing, "Did you already forgot the little target competition we had last month? My bow outnumbered your rifle, _rifle._" posing her hands on her hips Allison made a disbelieving look. "Do you honestly still think_ I_ need protection?"

"Honey," the man had an enigmatic smile on his face, "When I said that I could count on Scott to watch over you, I _meant_ that I count on Scott to serve as bait for whenever you run into trouble."

Allison started to giggle when she saw Scott's face, the boy was gaping at Mr. Argent like a six years old whose pet dog had just been taken away.

"I'm joking Scoot," he draped an arm around the boy half hugging him, "relax kid."

Even though he really _did_ want to relax his features showed otherwise; then again, if people knew all the 'jokes' that Mr. Argent constantly pulled out on him then nobody could really blame him for being a bit stiff.

Allison only shook her head. "By the way, dad." the call made both guys turn their eyes to the girl. "Are we gonna do that special training you told me about last time?"

"Sure honey," he said leaving Scott's side to hug his daughter, facing the boy without breaking the hug, "Sorry Scott but this weekend will be a father-and-daughter thing only."

"No worries ," the boy quickly answered waving his hands. "Allison told me days ago that you guys had planned something, so I'm already aware." he finished with a smile.

"I see." the man gave the boy a significant look.

"Well I better get going," the teen said after a few seconds of awkward silence. "I promised my mom I would take her grocery shopping."

"Well then don't keep a woman waiting," said Chris quickly, "Cause you know what they say," he leaned closer to the boy using one hand as if to hide his mouth lowering his voice to whisper, "They can be deadly."

"Definitely." replied Scott also whispering. Both men suddenly felt a nudge in their rib cages.

"Ok, if the sexism display is over," Allison getting closer to Scott and poking him in the chest, "_You_ need to go and help with the shopping," she paused turning to her father, "And _you_ and me are going to talk later."

"See, I told you." said Chris.

"Totally." replied Scott.

Both now had a fist digging in their sides. "Ok, enough. It's time to go." she said pushing Scott away, getting closer to his ear to whisper. "The usual." When Scott gave her a nod she pushed gently. "Now go, before Melissa kills you."

"Don't worry I got it." he said running a few steps and stopping to wave at the Argents. "Bye Ally, Bye Mr. Argent" he said with a big smile and disappearing into a corner.

Allison, who was waving at Scott, stopped once the boy was out of sight. "Now," she said turning to the older Argent, "Can you _please_ stop that?" she said with an exasperated tone.

"Stop what?" he said innocently.

"Stop trying to scare Scott away, will you?"

"Come on honey," he said giving the girl a quick kiss in the cheek, "You know I would _never_ do that." _'Not like you can actually scare him away'_ he mentally added.

"Just like you _didn't_ with the boyfriends I had before Scott?" she asked crossing her arms.

Chris didn't answer to that. He merely tucked his hands in his jacket's pockets, making a goofy smile and staring at space as he remembered all those punks he used to scare away by simply using the pump-action to load his old shotgun he used to have in display on the living room, back on the days when Allison was starting High School. Scott was the only one who, instead of instantly sweating like crazy and fidgeting in panic, quickly went to the display case saying over and over how cool it was for him to be able to handle all kinds of fire weapons. His inner smile grew even wider when doing the pump-action the boy simply kept ranting on and on about how awesome it was. He was the first boy in that house who had given him a sincere smile instead of a forced one. Chris would never say it out loud, but in that very moment he knew Scott was the right one for his daughter… but that didn't mean he couldn't have a bit of fun with the messy-mop kid.

At Chris' mutism Allison shook her head while sighing. "Anyway," she started, "What about that training you promised?"

"Ah yes, the training." Slowly said Chris putting an arm around his daughter's shoulders, "Why don't you and I go for some Chinese take-out?" he saw the girl's face beaming, "_Then_ we can start making preparations for it, how's that?"

"Nice," she said smiling, "Then let's go." she said sneaking away from her father's arm and running up ahead a few steps. "By the way," she pause turning back to the older man rising up her right hand to show him the car's keys she had stolen from him, "I'm driving this time." and without another word she ran to the lonely red Toyota Sienna parked in the side of the storage building.

Chris only smiled as he saw the girl happily climbing into the driver's seat. So the man tucked his hands into his jeans' pockets, shook his head and traced behind the girl, embracing himself for yet another agitated car ride.

Thank god for seatbelts.

* * *

Laura was resting on her king size bed reading her latest emails on her laptop, elegantly stretched in the middle of the mattress wearing a light gray nightgown that reached as far as her thighs. Her fingers were sliding across the mouse pad with a delicacy proper of a woman of high society, as she lay over her belly she swayed her toes up and down in a playful manner while rolling around the ankles. As she began to reply to several messages making her fingers glide across the keyboard with swift movements the sound of her room's door being opened suddenly came to her ears, still unfazed she kept typing.

As the sound of the quick typing remained steady Laura felt the side of her bed sink under another weight, said person sprawled across the edge letting out a resounding groan.

"Bored already little sis?" asked the older girl not looking away from the screen.

"Like you have no idea," complained the younger one.

"I see," she said deadpanned.

"Seriously Laura!" Cora said turning around her body to end up in the same position as her sister, "I'm pretty sure that if this keeps up I'll die of boredom." she sighed sinking her face in the bed's duvet.

"Highly unlikely little scamp," she stopped her typing turning to see Cora, "At least not until I see a vulture mercilessly pecking away at your skull." she ruffled the younger one's hair.

Cora groaned pushing the ruffling hand away. "Well then give me something to scare the vultures away," she turned her face to the side to see Laura, "And don't call me scamp." She pouted.

"Ok hang on a sec," she paused. Laura then started to shift her comfy position, lifting up her body to sit over her legs in a lotus position, placing the laptop over her crossed legs and facing her sister. "Now," she said facing Cora, "What do you need to talk about?"

"Need?" she said with a confused expression, "I just _need_ not to be bored."

"Really?" she said cocking her brows, her expression clearly saying 'You really think I'm going to buy that?'

"Yeah." she said face planting the covers again.

"Ok then little sis, enlighten me this please." she paused and put the laptop aside, getting closer to the young teen. "How come you decided to come to me, your older sister, when, if you were just bored as you claim you are, you could've just went to annoy the fuck out of our dear brother? As you always do since you were two years old."

"I really hate you sometimes, just so you know." she said without moving her face from the duvet.

"Maybe." Laura replied patting her shoulder. "But seriously Cora, What's gotten into you?"

"Nothing." she quickly said.

"Then tell me, How come you say you're bored when you're clearly and utterly frustrated? Better yet I'd say you're angry."

"I'm not." she said raising her voice without her face leaving the mattress.

Laura groaned, now she was the one feeling frustrated. Whatever was bothering her younger sister to make her sulk and complain like this (Which it was saying a lot from Cora Hale) then it had to be really getting a toll on her. Remaining in the same position Laura now crossed her arms across her chest, carefully eyeing her.

"Nothing is wrong, okay?" Cora said from the same position, "So quit staring at me like that."

"Staring like what?" Laura said feigning confusion.

"Like you're trying to shove drills through my skull." the younger turned her face finally facing the older Hale girl. "You usually use that look to scold Derek."

"Well, Derek deserves it for being a massive dick with me-"

"Like you don't deserve it sometimes?" interrupted the girl with a smirk.

"_As I was saying_," said Laura again marking her words, "Usually Derek does things that deserve this look." She said making her drilling eyes, "And judging by your behavior you're making me feel like you deserve it just now, you know?"

Cora groaned face planting the covers again. "I hate it when you get all motherly-inquisitive on me."

"Don't worry," she said patting Cora's shoulder, "I'm sure you'll get it soon. It's kind of like..." Laura paused to carefully arrange the words in her mind, lightly scrubbing her chin with her free hand, "It's like an exclusive Hale-Female-Only treat." Laura smirked.

After a few seconds of silence Cora finally lifted herself from the bed, arranging her body to be in the same position as her older sister. Carefully eyeing Laura, her expression hardening as if to properly arrange whatever thoughts were crossing the younger one's mind.

Laura finally decided to break the silence. "Okay, seriously, you're starting to freak me out." getting a little bit closer Laura rested both hands on Cora's shoulders. "What's going on sis?"

Cora eyed Laura once more. The room was starting to feel a bit stuffy.

"Cora." Laura said with her expression turning into a worried one.

Finally Cora dropped her head, sighing with frustration. "I don't know." she said in a low desperate tone.

"You don't know." Laura repeated.

"Okay," Cora said lifting her head to see Laura, "I _am_ frustrated and I _am_ angry, I'll give you that much." she dropped her head again, "But I just can't tell _why_, okay? And that's what frustrates me even more." She finished burying her face in her hands.

Laura sighed. "Well," she started, "At least now you admit it."

Cora returned to being silent again, which caused Laura to take her hands away from her sister's shoulders and cross them again. The older girl was carefully eyeing the younger one, mentally listing all the possible reasons that could've caused the teen's mood.

It was a fact that Cora had a very fickle temper, constantly shifting from one side of the spectrum to the other. Said spectrum consisting only of two phases: neck-snapper and party-soul. So it was understandable if seeing a depressed and frustrated Cora made Laura feel quite lost, mostly feeling lost for words of comfort. Hell, even Derek, who had the same amount of empathy as a rockslide pouring down the side of the Grand Canyon, would've felt quite lost watching this side of their younger sister. Whatever was going on inside that little head in front of her it was quite the turmoil if it was able to take away Cora's usual behavior, and since talking didn't seem like it was going to get them anywhere Laura decided to take another course of action.

"Ok, let's go scamp." she said patting her sister in the knees before getting up from the bed.

"Go?" she repeated following her sister with the eyes. She saw Laura heading for the closet, putting on a pair of sky blue sweatpants and a loose white T like the one she was wearing.

"Yeah, that's what I said." she said motioning to the door. "Now, let's get going."

After a few seconds of silence, Cora shook her head sliding to sit on the side of the bed. "Go _where_? To do _what_?"

Laura simply smiled. "You'll see."

Having said that Laura took Cora's hand, pulling her out of the room.

The door of the room slammed muffling the voices of a confused Cora demanding for answers and the laughter of an amused Laura.

The laptop resting on the bed, which was still on, made a beep noise announcing an email for its owner.

A mail that would go unread for the rest of the weekend.

* * *

The silver colored Porsche was parking in the driveway of an expensive looking house, the neighborhood surrounding the house also looked expensive, which it was, considering how many houses around had space enough for at least three swimming pools… and it was just the front lawn. The screech of the expensive tires scared off the few bugs lying around the lawn and the silence followed by the screech was broken by the opening of the Porsche's doors, the clap of a pair of expensive pink high heels was followed by the clap of a pair of black dress shoes equally expensive. The last sound to join was the soft squelch of a pair of white sneakers.

"I get it ok?" said an exasperated Jackson, "Next time I'll make sure to double check it, all right?"

"Jackson," said Lydia turning to look at him, "We already agreed to let it go, okay?" she cocked a brow.

"Son," called Mr. Whittemore already climbing the steps of the front porch, "Could we please leave this for another time? I'm tired, hungry, and I can also smell dinner from here." he said motioning to the front door.

Jackson only glared at him cocking his brows as if to say 'Dad could you please let us handle this?' Fortunately Mr. Whittemore was a quick one for his son's expression, so dismissing them with a wave he went inside the house.

"Ok, now we can talk." Lydia suddenly said. Earning her a surprised look from Jackson.

The blonde snorted. "I don't know how is it that I keep getting surprised by you." he started ruffling his own hair, putting both hands behind his head weaving his fingers.

"Because," said Lydia shrugging, "As Stiles would say 'I'm awesome', so there is no real mystery there."

"Yeah," agreed Jackson, "Sometime I just keep forgetting that."

"Honestly Jackson" said the girl getting the blonde's attention again, "You really thought I would just buy the act of _you_ getting angry at every stupid little thing with your _dad_ being right beside us? If there's one thing you usually avoid _at all costs_ is making a big fuss in front of your parents." The blonde winced at the truth of those words remembering _why_ he was like that.

Ever since Jackson's parents disclosed to him about his adoption he went on an emotional rampage over who he really was, not that his feeling towards his now adopted parents had changed since he still regarded them a his family. But that discovery certainly did pull several strings of curiosity. Who _was_ he really? Who were his biological parents? What had happened to them? Why did they have to leave him behind? Did they not love him? What was the true story behind it all? So no one could really blame him for starting to feel really depressed at the thought of not being wanted. No one was able to appease his anger and confusion and sadness at that time, when he felt that everything around him was nothing but a fragile bubble of reality which didn't belong to him at all. Feeling lost he started to wonder about life itself, its worth, _his_ life, _his_ worth. Falling into depression more and more. A depression that no one was able to best: not his adopted parents, who he still thought of as family; not Lydia, the girl he loved; not Danny, his best friend in the entire world; not Scott, the one he started to consider a good friend and rival, not Allison, his girlfriend's best friend whom he had grown fond of because of her kind and considerate heart.

In the end it was Stiles who settled him back in the ground.

It was senior year at high school one day during lunch break, everybody was carefreely eating their meals when the sound of a tray falling on the floor startled everyone around. Several of the questionable foods served by the cafeteria were now smearing the floor and forming a disgusting looking dough. One of the freshmen, your typical geeky looking boy, made the horrible mistake of not looking where he was going while carrying his meal for the day, all this obviously causing the boy to bump into someone who was also distracted with something else. Said bumped person being Jackson Whittemore. Following the natural law of High School, What happens when a geeky looking sophomore student bumps into a senior jock student? Hell breaks loose.

When the poor boy realized who was the guy he had the bad luck to run into he immediately knew he was in for some serious shit, and to make things worse by that time Jackson had been in his usual cranky mood because of the adoption thing for a month already. So naturally the young freshman immediately apologized over a thousand times in a few seconds, probably fearing for his life in the hands of the blonde jock; however, Jackson wasn't going to feel satisfied by a stupid boy's apology. He had been humiliated in front of the entire school by a measly worm; the compensation had to be equal. Feeling his emotions brewing like a hot stew Jackson's first idea was to punch the poor boy for insulting him; he even went as far as to devise many other kinds of humiliations. So the blonde grabbed the kid by the collar of his button up shirt, took enough space to swing his arm to make a jab in the face, and as his fist started to fly directly to the kid's mug many people in the place (including Danny who had felt completely powerless about the whole situation, mostly because he had failed to stop his blonde friend in previous occasions) flinched when the arm was halfway through… until it was suddenly stopped by another hand, a hand firmly containing the fist. Said hand belonged to Stiles.

Stiles had confronted Jackson many other times, mostly by withstanding the usual bullying he used to receive on a daily basis. The scrawny teen didn't really mind that so much, at least not in front of people, so whatever stupid thing the blonde jock did to him didn't really bother him and he would just cope with the situation and never bowing down his head. This time, however, was completely different, not also because it was all clearly unfair and unnecessary but also because Stiles, just as Danny, could see that there was something amiss in Jackson's behavior.

Standing up against the blonde, Stiles confronted Jackson asking for his reasons to be rude to the kid when he had already sincerely apologize for his mistake. The jock obviously not caring the less for anything at all started to bark and pour his frustrations on the scrawny boy instead. When Stiles realized that reasoning was not going the get through the other's thick skull he then braced himself for a good fight, same fight for which later they had to spend the entire afternoon in detention.

Later in detention, forced together in a small room where neither of them had any way of escaping, the so awaited conversation came. Mostly it was Jackson trying to beat the crap out of Stiles while screaming and trying to free himself from all that anger he had built since weeks ago. The scrawny boy who had merely put up with the punches finally snapped at the blonde, pinning him to the ground by sitting in his stomach, screaming all the truths he needed to hear once and for all. He told the blonde how much he knew about his situation. Stiles, who was very good at researching and inquiring, told him that he already knew pretty much the whole story, mostly the relevant aspects. The blonde boy who was about to snap at him for butting into other people's lives was silenced again by a screaming Stiles, said screaming teen saying how much of an asshole he was being to his parents. As soon as he heard the blonde immediately answering that those people were not his real parents Stiles slapped him right across the face before screaming that he was a bigger idiot if that's what he thought. He told him how real parents weren't those who just gave birth but those who gave the children they loved a true life; he told him how those people willing to do anything for a child that held their love were the true parents; he told the blonde how those people he no longer regarded as his parents had given and would _always_ give everything they have only for him; he told him how lucky he was to have both parents still alive and loving him no matter what.

Although those words had managed to soothe some of Jackson's anger what really _did_ make all of it disappear was the feeling of something warm dripping on his cheeks. Stiles was crying. The boy's eyes were looking at him, not with the pity he always saw in others or the feigned condolence he hated so much, but it was pure and true empathy. Jackson could practically hear it clearly like a scream.

Stiles was crying for him.

Stiles was shedding the tears he could not.

Stiles was telling him that he understood his pain, if not exactly, better than anyone.

So finally shaking away the loneliness he had felt for a good time and crumbling under the heaviness of the truth placed before him, Jackson cried. His vulnerability forced him to seek refuge, and without anyone else to hold on to he clung to the scrawny teen. Crying into his chest and letting his tears wash away all what he had locked away for what he felt as a very long time.

That's how Jackson and Stiles became friends.

Lydia was the only one who knew the story.

Ever since then Jackson felt like becoming not entirely his old self but a new and better him (it was actually more like not being a total asshole in Stiles' words), and oddly enough it was all thanks to a fearless and scrawny-hyperactive-annoying-as-fuck-but-kind kid.

Ever since then Jackson made a resolution of never again hurting his parents' feelings, he never again wanted to see that hurting look in their faces, he promised he would never again give them a reason to worry for him. Hence why the blonde would always have the best and most educated behavior when hanging out with his parents.

"Jackson!"

"Huh? What?" the startled blonde came back to reality.

"Seriously," groaned Lydia, "Look I don't really care what were you remembering," she crossed her arms, "But can you at least tell me _why_ you did that display of being so angry?"

"Hey I was-"

"Look," she immediately interrupted, "I don't care if you were really angry at something or whatever, okay? What I'm really wondering is why you did all that _just_ so you could get to talk to me alone." she placed her hands on her hips, eyeing the blonde with an expectant look on her face.

"I never said I was the sharpest tool in the shed." he shyly scratched the back of his neck.

"You're definitely not." she replied with a smirk.

Jackson sighed and rolled his eyes. "Anyway," he closed the distance between them, placing both hands on Lydia's shoulders. "Lyds," he paused looking directly into the redheaded girl's eyes, "There's something important I need to tell you."

The girl's heart skipped a beat and everything else just vanished to her.

* * *

A/N: Well hope you people liked it. Feel free to give me your thoughts about it. ;)


	3. Chapter 3- Midnight show

A/N: Hey there everybody, once again I'm back with the update.

Holy shit! Did this chapter give me a good fight in some parts, but luckily I was able to best it and got it right. Man, when I saw how many words this one ended with I just couldn't believe my eyes, still I gotta say it was a lot of fun to write as always. XD

By the way, just a heads up, rating might have to change in the next chapters so beware.

As always I wanna thank all the readers who take their time to read this story and I just gotta say: _Holy crap!_ I was so thrilled to see my views doubled that I fist-pumped and unfortunately hit a shelf, man did that hurt hahahaha. I mean, it makes me so happy to see that you guys are liking this... or also the views just mean that you guys are keeping tabs on me to see if I finally decided to post the update, which still works for me. XD

mistsandstorms: I also was laughing like crazy about the whole situation between Chris and Scott.

I know it's been a slow build-up guys, so thanks for your patience and keeping up with me so far. Anyway, before I keep up the rambling lets roll.

DISCLAIMER: blah blah blah Teen Wolf not mine blah blah blah just doing it for fun blah blah blah.

Now, have fun. :)

* * *

Chapter 3. - Midnight Show

Derek was standing in the middle of a hallway of the shopping mall (this one was not the one from where Laura and him got kicked out by the way) while watching his wristwatch every now and then, his eyes would drift from one side to the other just glancing at the bypassing people. Many of the shoppers were all encased in their own personal worlds, too busy to pay any attention to the tall raven haired man who was holding a pair of shopping bags, both filled with several different clothes. He sighed.

That morning Derek got up around nine in the morning, which wasn't really that early but also wasn't so late that he could say that his whole morning went to waste. He did feel surprised that he could manage to sleep longer than what he had expected, especially after the little dough fight that he accidentally walked in yesterday.

Derek spent the rest of yesterday's evening going through some papers in his room, occasionally taking brakes either by browsing whatever thing he felt like investigating in the internet or using the online radio feature. After a few hours his body started to protest for the lack of movement and the lack of hydration, which prompt him to seek some water. As he left his room and started to pace for the kitchen he wondered why the house (mostly the second floor) was being so quiet. Little did he know that once he reached the first floor his questions would be answered, more specifically right after being hit in the face by a lump of dough which was sent flying from the kitchen. It turns out that Laura and Cora tried to bake muffins, and while baking they started doing small talk, soon the chat became jokes and the joking evolved into a dough fight. The entire place was smeared with it. When both girls turned to see their brother's face covered in the mix of flour, milk and eggs they bursted into laughter, and a soon as the laughter ceased (which did lasted for a good few minutes by the way) they decided that it was finally time to act like mature adults and start cleaning the mess. Derek's retaliation didn't help at all. Soon the three Hale siblings were engaged in another food fight; however, said fight wasn't limited to the dough in the walls and floor but also started to involve whatever the three 'youths' could grab from the cupboards or even the fridge. The war came to an end when a chorus of clearing throats caught their attention.

Talia and Peter were standing by the kitchen's entrance. The woman with crossed arms, a cocked brow with an expectant look on her face, and also tapping the floor with her foot silently demanding an explanation. Peter was also with his arms crossed, leaning against the door frame but with his usual smirk. Needless to say that all three Hale siblings spent the entire night cleaning the mess.

Derek smiled at the memory.

"Now that's what I call a sight for sore eyes." the sudden comment made Derek quickly snap out of his thoughts and turn his head around. Peter was standing a few steps behind him with his usual smirk.

"And here I thought you had ditched me for a couple of asses." Derek made a smirk of his own.

"Well I _did_ feel compelled to do just _that_ in the last store I was in," he said approaching the younger Hale, "But then I thought 'Shame on you Peter Hale, your dear nephew is patiently waiting for you' so here I am." he smiled and made a slight bow.

"Lemme guess," Derek smirked crossing his arms, "The old perv charade is losing its touch?"

"Okay, first of all" the older man pointed a finger at him, "I'm _not_ old, I just barely made it to my adulthood. Second, who said it didn't work?" he smugly asked pulling out a piece of paper and waving it in front of the young man's face.

"For god's sake." sighed a defeated Derek. "Peter, seriously, how many times do you need to get laid a day to be satisfied?"

Peter sharpened his eyes, rubbing his chin and carefully eyeing Derek. "Is not a rhetorical question, right?"

"I give up." said Derek looking skyward shaking his head, inwardly asking for more patience.

"Anyway," said Peter reaching for his phone, "We better get going now my cute Dery-boy, assuming we both want to make it in time." the man started to walk away while texting.

The younger man quickly grabbed paced after the older. "So then are you _finally_ going to tell me just _what_ the hell are we doing tonight?" said Derek catching up to Peter.

"That's not how surprises work my dear Dery-boy." he said slowing his pace and draping an arm over his nephew. "But there is one thing I _can_ tell you."

Derek remained silent, cocking a brow as a sign of expectation.

"Tonight's adventure is like my late birthday-present for you." he said wiggling up and down his brows.

Derek darted is yes from his uncle to the road in front and back at the older man. "Why do I feel like I'm going to regret this?"

Peter stopped making an offended look, gasping and putting a hand over his chest. "Derek, is that the way to thank your kind and generous uncle?"

Derek stopped a few steps later, looking back at his uncle. "Have you _ever_ met my uncle?"

Peter snickered.

"No, seriously." continued Derek crossing his arms. "For my eighteenth birthday, the man spent _four_ _months _buttering me up for the 'greatest birthday present of all time' and do you know what he gave me in the end?"

Peter crossed his arms, deciding to let his nephew's charade continue. "What could have been said present?"

"A _fucking_ BDSM set!" said Derek raising his voice, trying not to let his arms flail around… not so much anyway.

"Sounds like a wonderful present to me." Peter shrugged.

"Oh it was great indeed." quipped Derek. "A _great_ fucking embarrassment."

"You know Dery-boy, you can be _soooo_ dramatic at times." he said brushing off the topic and continued walking back to the car.

"Dramatic?!" after the initial bafflement Derek finally started pacing after the older man. "Peter I had to put up with Laura and Cora's Laughter for a _whole week, _I just couldn't get them to shut the hell up." when Peter gave him a look as if to say 'That's not so bad' then he continued.

"Father couldn't look at me in the eye without flustering, so he just evaded me the whole week."

"Oh Dery-boy, you shouldn't take it too personal, you know?" he patted the boy's shoulder. "We all know how much of a prude your dad can be sometimes"

Derek's jaw just dropped a little. He did definitely not gap, thank you very much. "Peter, for god's sake! Mother pleaded me _not_ to be like you!"

"Oh Dery-boy, as if you could do that." the older one snickered.

"Peter is not funny!"

After reaching the Camaro and exiting the parking lot the car was on road back to the Hale Mansion, both Hale men kept making small talk about several things.

After what he felt it was like the usual long drive in company of his dear uncle Peter (Or anyone from his _beloved_ family) he finally collapsed in his bed, face down on the duvet, groaning that he still had many things to take care of before allowing his uncle to take him prisoner for the rest of the night… which by the way he really wasn't looking forward to that. Fifteen minutes later the raven haired man was already taking a shower, washing away the tension he felt just by imagining what kind things awaited him tonight. Trails of cold crystal clear water allowing his mind to go blank for a few minutes, not really caring about anything else but only the sensations the cold water is giving him. Several patches of the soap's foam are being dragged along the water trails until they reach the tiled floor, forming a swirling spiral just before disappearing down the drain. Every muscle on Derek's body strains and stretches with every twist and turn he makes, the shades and the reflects of the bathroom's light over the water changes and he keeps turning around without moving from his spot under the shower. His eyes are closed and his mouth his pressed in a line, his face is completely void of emotion as he only focuses on the task of rubbing his shampoo back and forth through his hair.

Derek's features start to twitch when he suddenly remembers that tonight his uncle and him are going out for… something, which he totally now has to take as Peter's gift for his birthday. Although it still strikes him as odd. He's not talking about the fact that Peter wants to drag him around the city at night, doing only god knows what. It also isn't the fact that they could end up in something completely and totally embarrassing (mostly for him because, come on, Peter has no shame at all. Actually scratch that, Peter was born _without_ shame) and he shudders at the thought. Hell, even the lingering question about what is it that his uncle has planned doesn't really seem weird, because at this point in_ his _life he pretty much stopped expecting anything from the older Hale. Life sometimes makes you learn the hard way (mostly specifically the please-someone-shoot-me-in-the-head-I'm-so-embarra ssed kind of hard way). What really was making him feel uneasy about the whole situation was the fact that Peter told him to take it as a late birthday gift... not that Peter has ever been punctual with birthday gifts but mostly because his uncle did gave him a present already. Said present arrived a day after his birthday party, it was a large box containing: a pair of wolf statues carved in onyx, a silver bracelet with a triskelion carved in onyx as well attached to it, and a book with the title Kama Sutra (His uncle, really). So why in the name of all that is sacred and holy did his uncle say that?

That was the question that still lingered unanswered in Derek's mind, he still kept wondering why did his uncle say to take this night as a late birthday gift when he already gave him one (late as well mind you). Needless to say that at the same time he also didn't want to know, albeit his mind continued to fathom his uncle's true purpose without success. He had known Peter long enough to know that the older Hale always did things with _something_ else in mind, and he was incredibly glad to admit that _that_ something wasn't always sexual related (Which was rare).

Finally coming to terms that his uncle's mind was the biggest, if not also the most disturbing one as well, enigma of the century he finally shut off the shower. Taking a towel from the bathroom's rack he draped it around his still dampened and muscle-ripped waist, shaking his head a few times to shake off some of the water drops that dripped from his moisten hair locks. Walking out of the bathroom he stopped before the bed, carefully eyeing the set of clothes carefully placed over it. When did this happen? He vaguely recalls hearing a door being opened and closed, but then again he was so focused on other things that he couldn't really tell if he was imagining it or not. Who would go to the problem of arranging a set for him? Derek let out a defeated groan when his mind put two and two together.

"Dammit Peter." he mumbled. "You too Laura."

The answer was already clear in his mind. Although it wasn't exactly Peter who came and rummaged his closet he was pretty sure that it was his uncle who initially asked Laura to pick an appropriate set of clothes for tonight's adventure, because his older sister just couldn't ever have enough meddling with his life and probably every opportunity that life gave her to do so she welcomed it with wide open arms. He could only imagine Peter's smugly face when he asked the older Hale sibling.

Cora was out of the picture because the fact of getting to be involved with his clothes was a no go for her. One night while doing the laundry, some of Derek's clothes got mixed in between the several laundry baskets that all Hale siblings used to piled between the three of them (or more like they still do that). As soon as Derek exited the laundry room Cora was the next one to use it, and the night proceeded without much trouble. While taking out her clothes from the washing machine her surprise was big when she accidentally pulled out a pair of boxer briefs, such was the shock that to say that Cora screamed like a banshee was an understatement. Ever since then the Hale house stated that each person had to keep their dirty clothes locked away in their respective rooms until laundry time came around, also Cora yelled at her big brother that she would rather first cut her hand off with one of Laura shaving razors than allowing herself to touch his clothes ever again. Both older siblings cocked their brows as an answer.

While still lingering in memories Derek's phone started to buzz announcing an incoming text, the raven haired man quickly dismissed the issue with the clothes and went to pick up his vibrating device. It was a message from Peter.

_'Seriously? We're just a few rooms away.'_ he thought sighing.

Basically the text was saying to get dressed ASAP and meet him in the garage.

Derek groaned and started to get dressed; he was definitely not looking forward to this.

* * *

The garage was in relative silence when he first arrived, not that he expected for someone to be there but in this house it wasn't that unusual to find people occupying a room when you less needed it. Making sure he was completely alone he went for the tool rack and pulled out a couple of boxes placing them by the white Cavalier, he unbuttoned his shirt and slipped it off still keeping his white wife beater revealing light tan white skin and placed a dirty rug under the car to start checking the engine. After all he did promise Boyd he would give it a little checkup just to make sure that the car wouldn't get busted like last Monday.

He started to hum a random song he remembered hearing in the radio this morning while randomly picking up tool from the boxes, lightly brushing his fingers on the tools until he felt whatever tool he needed at the moment and quickly taking it out to continue with his task. A couple of hours later, together with some grease and oil stains all over his arms, chest and face, he was done with the checkup, returning every tool to its rightful box and each box to its rightful place by the racks. Not that he had an obsessive compulsive disorder or anything, but he really didn't wish to get maimed.

"Now Derek has no excuse to say that I always leave a mess behind." the boy said while rubbing off the grease from his hands with a rag.

Derek was the one who always growled whenever he found the tools laying all around the garage, his frown would make the man's brows crunch together and his glare would be as lethal as a shotgun, making a slight snarl. The boy snickered at the memory.

After putting everything back in place he checked his watch, it was just signaling seven o'clock in the afternoon. _'Not so late.'_ He thought while scratching the back of his head, thinking what to do while waiting for the others. As far as he remembered Cora said that she would busy helping out her mother on some minor business, and Boyd and Erica were right now driving around town in the bike, which meant he was going to be alone for another couple of hours… and bored.

So having nothing better to do he decided to climb in the back seat of the Cavalier and take a short nap for the time being. He was expecting for some of the guys to show up and wake him up by screaming into his ear, mostly Erica or Cora; or maybe Boyd would wake him by pulling him from his legs and dropping him on the floor; or maybe even Laura by just splashing his face with cold water; hell even Derek would probably carry him and leave him on the driveway (which did happen once).

What he didn't expect was to suddenly by awoken by hearing Peter's voice talking to someone, and since he only heard a pair of steps he figured that the older Hale was talking on the phone.

"Yes, I'm aware of that already." the voice of the older man sounded a bit annoyed.

Still a bit drowsy Isaac peeked over the window, lifting his head just enough so he could see Peter tracing back and forth in front of the black Camaro… which wasn't there when he last went to sleep. _'How long have I been out?'_ asked himself in disbelief, his frown could be qualified as Derek-like. He figured he must've been really out cold because the Camaro's engine could be quite noisy, _'Just as Derek when he barks in fury' _he mentally snickered. His attention returned to the older Hale.

"Listen as long as we can keep playing it cool-" he seemed to be interrupted, "Yes, yes I know." he made an exasperated groan.

The teen's heart started to race when the older man began walking around the Camaro. Thank god he first went to the side opposite of where he was, or more accurately the side opposite to the Cavalier.

Actually he was beginning to wonder how come the older male had not spotted him already. As far as he knew Peter had a horrible talent to always get hold of the little imperceptible details that used to go over everyone's head, and then use them to his advantage or someone else's embarrassment. The thing was that Isaac was covering himself with some of the blankets that Cora used to leave in the car (sometime the teenager used to take naps between classes) together with other stuff that all four teens used to leave in there as well, so it wasn't unusual for people to see a lot of random stuff laying in the back seat (Talia used to call it 'The Bum's corner'). He ducked back when he notice the man approaching the Cavalier.

"Yeah, I've already contacted him," he heard Peter saying, "He said that it had been already taken care off."

Isaac thought that maybe the man was in the middle of his usual business, either about _business_ business or maybe some of those 'disturbing-jail-earning-sex-related-calls' that Derek used to shiver about. Still something was off in all of this, something he couldn't quite tell what it was… but it _was_ definitely off.

"Yeah," the voice of the man snatched back his attention, "I've already started looking into that. The thing is, as much as I want to go and just get this over with-" he was interrupted again making Isaac peek once again. He saw the man frowning with displeasure.

"Ok, ok, ok," he said. He looked like he was trying to keep him temper under control. "Listen!" the risen tone made Isaac jump scared… a little. "Right now I'm heading over the place I told you before," he saw him making a pause, "Exactly," the man nodded, "Don't worry, I'll make sure of that." The man smirked.

For a few seconds Isaac saw Peter going from one expression to another, probably faces the man was making at the statements or questions the other person was making over the phone. When the older man made a sudden move the teen yanked himself back down.

"Listen I think I hear my nephew coming down through the stairs, so I'll call you back later ok?", Isaac peeked again, "Don't worry, I'll be careful." He saw the man sighing and looking skyward, rolling his eyes. "_Yes._" he barked. "Bye."

A minute later Derek was walking into the garage, quickly making his way to the older Hale. Isaac wanted to peek a little more but ultimately decided to yank his head back, covering himself with the blanket again.

"I'm ready." said Derek.

"You sure took your sweet time," he heard Peter say in a smugly tone, "Lemme guess," Peter paused, "The hair right?" the older boy sighed, "Well you sure like to put a lot of effort into it."

Isaac couldn't hold back a smile when he heard Derek's growl. "Let's get going." the younger Hale said before beginning to walk to the driver's seat.

"Ah ah ah" he heard Peter saying, probably interrupting Derek's steps because they also immediately halted as well. "Tell me something Dery-boy, Do you actually know _where_ are we going tonight?"

Derek's silence let out that he in fact didn't.

"That being said..." the sound of a couple of jingling keys echoed after that. "Now you be a good Dery-boy and let me handle the rest ok?" he heard the older man patting the younger one, probably in the cheek.

The teen could only imagine what kind of face Derek was making, and that made him smile. The older boy always used to be very protective of his precious Camaro, although with someone like Cora continuously roaming around it like a fucking famished vulture Isaac knew he really couldn't blame him. He also started to shiver from laughter when he remembered that usually Derek was really skilled at finding a shit load of synonyms of the phrase "fuck off" whenever someone tried to take his precious Camaro away from him (99% of those times being mostly Cora).

After Derek's growl echoing in the garage Isaac heard both doors being opened and closed simultaneously. After that the Camaro's engine roared and the automated door of the garage started to slide open, after a few seconds of the car's engine making a roaring sound, probably because Peter was pumping the gas pedal just to annoy Derek, he heard the car pulling out quickly and making its way out of the property, the roar fading into the night.

Once the door was close again, the teen felt it was finally safe to slip out of his hiding spot. Once out he quickly reached his phone, confirming it was storing two messages, one from Cora and the other from Boyd.

**From Boyd:** _Hey dude I need a favor, Erica and I are kind of… stranded… flat tire. We're near the preserve's entrance._

Isaac's laughter was short lived when he saw the time the message came in: '7:30 pm,' and subsequently he checked the current time: '11:00 pm.' Fuck.

_'What?!'_ shouted Isaac inwardly.

At first he winced because it had been more than three hours since the text arrived, he figured he was in for a good one and was probably never gonna hear the end of it from Erica. But aside that, he was glad that no other text from those two was stored, that meaning they really weren't minding him being late most likely because they were probably busy 'entertaining' themselves. Isaac snickered. Then he decided to check Cora's.

**From Cora:** _ISAAC LAHEY! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?! WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU'RE DOING LEAVE IT NOW AND GO FUCKING HELP BOYD AND ERICA BEFORE I MAIM YOUR GENITALS AND RE-PURPOSE THEM AS DINING BELLS TO ANNOUNCE DINNER AT NIGHT._

Isaac's face paled.

At first panic rushed through his system at the usual Cora-like treatment, but then after his mind made a few connections it struck him as odd. Why would Cora get this worked up about them having a flat tire? Two options popped in his mind: either Erica spent the last three hours calling Cora until she got the Hale sister so fed up, like Derek in a Monday morning, that she simply snapped and decided to finally help; or the blonde girl must've pulled out some blackmailing material on her to get her like this. Sweet.

So in clear fear of the potential damage his manhood was being threatened with, he sighed and packed a new tire for the bike, he climbed into the Cavalier's driver seat and began the long road towards the preserve.

Recent events being tossed into a corner of his mind.

* * *

The place was like a dream.

He was running through the greenest grass field he ever thought it could exist. Occasionally jumping on the little puddles he could catch of glimpse of, mostly because of the running he was doing and also because of the tall grass that was long enough to be gently brushing his shins as he kept running.

Glancing back he saw a tall young woman running right behind him, with all purpose of catching up to him. She was dressed with a white dress that showed sunflower patterns on both shoulder and the waist, her long nut-brown colored hair was elegantly gliding with the breeze, and her smile was as dazzling as the sun itself.

She was calling him out while chasing after him.

When she finally caught up to him, she grabbed him by the hips and threw both of them into the grass, he clung to her shoulders just before falling. Happily laughing they both started to roll from one side to the other, without letting go of each other. When both of them felt tired and out of air they stopped gasping for oxygen and glancing at the clear blue sky.

"I can't beat you." he said still gasping.

"Well," she paused rolling on her side to have a better glance of him, "For starters my legs are longer than yours." she smiled.

"Are you calling me shorty?" he said pouting.

"Maybe" she said not being able to contain the laughter.

"It's not funny." he cried lightly shoving her shoulder.

"Besides," she putting her elbow on the ground to rest her head on her hand, "I was a good runner when I was younger."

"Can I be a runner too?" he asked genuinely interested and worried of a negative answer.

"Of course you can!" she exclaimed lifting herself to sit in a lotus position. "You don't think so?" she looked at him expectantly.

"I just don't think I'm good at it." he said while also sitting the same as her. When he turned his eyes to her he felt his forehead being flicked. "Ow!" he scowled.

"Okay, now listen," she pointed a finger at him, "Never. Again. ok?" punctuating every word, he only made a confused look. "I don't want to hear you say 'I never' or 'I can't' or anything of the sort, got it?"

Although confused he still nodded.

"Listen," she said closing the distance and taking his hands, "The moment you say those words you're closing yourself off to your goals." he tilted his head confused, "Maybe you won't be able to get it now, but when as get older you will."

Her assuring smile made him smile as well.

"Just never give up." She said eyes locked on him, his eyes carefully reading her expressions. "Even when things seem to get bad and ugly… just never give up. Fight and keep going." she smiled again. "Ok?"

"Okay." he gleefully said.

"Then is a promise?" she said holding out her pinky finger.

"A promise." he repeated hooking his pinky finger with hers.

After a shake of both fingers they both smiled again at each other.

"I love you Stiles."

"I love you mom"

_Promise._

Suddenly he yanked himself from his bed sitting and gasping for air.

With eyes wide open as a pair or plates he eyed the place, recognizing it as his usual bedroom with every piece of furniture he possessed in its rightful pace. His chest felt like if his heart was pounding its way out, his lungs still felt severely short of oxygen, his mind was a fuzzy mess and his entire body was sweating and shivering.

It was all a dream.

_'That fucking dream again.'_ he mentally cursed.

Feeling a wave of anger coursing through his body he unconsciously grabbed his pillow and threw it as hard as he could to the mirror hanging from the wardrobe's door right in front of him, said mirror slightly shaking from the cushy impact. Looking again at his own reflection Stiles felt disgusted by the sight and flexed his legs to hug them, borrowing his head between them and starting to rock back and forth. It was not the first time he had that dream.

When he was little, back in his hometown, his mother used to take him out for walks in the forest surrounding the town, their house conveniently placed a few minutes away from the town's outskirts. They would always go to the same clearing in the middle of the forest to run or have picnics or just lay on their backs and stare at the sky, it was their secret spot to do whatever they felt like doing. Stiles always saw that place as a safe spot where the world could never touch them, where he could always go and feel that nothing in the world could ever go wrong. After his mother passed away the place became more a refuge from his pain, a place where he could go and mourn her all he wanted without the sympathetic looks he hated so much, a place where he could let out all the pain without feeling like someone was judging him. Eventually the place started to feel more like a prison to him, unable to shake off the pain every time the memories assaulted him and made him yearn for the past, where his mother still lived. Finally one day, on the first anniversary of his mother death, Stiles went to the clearing thinking that the place would ease off some of the pain he had built during the entire day; however, as soon as he entered the clearing he suddenly felt weak and knelt bursting into tears. He decided to never return there.

As time went by it was on few occasions when Stiles' subconscious would bring those memories of the clearing back to him, but now he could no longer shed tears and instead just boiled in anger every time it happened.

The boy shook his head.

Not really eager to dwell on past things Stiles decided to reach for his phone on the nightstand right beside the bed, he clicked the side button checking the current time cocking his brows when he saw the time. _'9:30 pm?'_ Stiles muttered surprised. Is not that he was the dozy type of guy when taking naps but he also couldn't say that he slept like a log, probably it was mostly because of his habit of always being aware of his surroundings that he could never sit still for long periods of time. So it was a little surprising to see that he had in fact slept through almost five complete hours without waking up even once, or not even opening his eyes half-sleep because he heard something. He was really surprised.

Sliding his legs to the side of the bed Stiles remained seated on the edge, his hand firmly gripping the sheets while his feet were well planted on the rug and his eyes were staring at space. He was actually mentally reviewing his agenda for the night, and as always he was having a hard time just accepting what he was going to do… like most nights. After a few seconds he finally decided against staying in bed and headed for the kitchen, going through some of the cupboards and the fridge, making a light and healthy meal so his body could stay up and running for the rest of the night. Once he was done cooking he went to drop down on the couch instead of the table, munching away without any kind of emotion on his face. His body was actually moving only by the instinct and the idea of needing energy for later, his mind was busy rescheduling everything he was going to do for the night. Once he was over with his food, he quickly paced to the bathroom and took a quick shower, trying always to focus on simple things that didn't induce deep thoughts or reasoning. He really needed _not_ to think right now. After the shower he grabbed a towel and paced back and forth through his room, opening drawers and pulling out whatever piece of cloth he felt like putting on, avoiding any eye contact with any reflecting surface that he could see. As any other night, right before his _night job_, he would always avoid looking his reflection in a mirror. Pulling on a black sport shirt and sport pants together with his black and white sneakers and his ever-trustful red hoodie he took his phone from the nightstand and his keys, spinning them around as he made his way to the door. Placing his hand in the doorknob he stopped for a few seconds and closed his eyes, he took a few deep breaths and tried to steady his heartbeat.

_'Remember,'_ he said mentally,_ 'You have a dream and no matter what you _will _make it happen.'_

He wince a bit before mentally slapping himself.

Shaking his head he finally opened the door and quickly stepped out gently closing it behind.

* * *

The sound of electro music echoed through the walls making the vibrate as if the sound came from them, said vibrations made circles in the coffee she was sipping at occasionally. The neon lights squirming their way in through the closed off blind shades reflected in her glasses, making her tilt them every now and then. Even the constant ringing of the phone because of clients requesting information was nothing to distract her or make her lose her temper.

The woman's light brown skin was glowing with the color of the lights that came in, her chocolate colored long curly locks cascaded her shoulders in an elegant fashion, and her dark hazelnut eyes were hard focus on the agenda she had been reading over the last two hours. She was dressed in her tight gray office suit and a white ruffled blouse, nibbling a pen as she kept reading and occasionally adding more notes.

A knock on the door caught her attention, although that didn't make her divert her eyes.

"Who is it?"

"It's Ennis." came a hoarse voice from over the door.

She finally looked up. "Come on in."

The door opened revealing a tall man, broad muscles covering his entire body, clean shaved head and dark fierce eyes.

"Is there anything you would like to inform me?" she asked after several seconds of silence. Her expression was hard as if to say 'I'm working' and that was a clear statement that she did not tolerate distractions while on duty.

"The shipment for tonight's theme has arrived." He said with a stern look on his eyes. "Right now is being unloaded into the warehouse."

"Finally," she said with an exasperated sigh, "Good thing it came so fast even on short notice." Standing up she quickly paced out of the office, pushing aside the taller man to get out who sighed and started to walk right behind her. Both made their way to the storage in the back of the building, stopping right before said cargo.

"Hand me the delivery papers." She said extending her hand, her tone somewhat demanding.

The man's brows met the line of his shaved hair crossing his arms.

"Ugh, _please_?" she groaned rolling her eyes as well.

The man only nodded with a pleased smirk, walking away to a counter a grabbing a binder. "I've already did a thorough check up." he said before handling the binder.

"I know you did." she commented nonchalantly, pulling out the paper and flipping over the pages. "I just want to check some details to pencil them in." her eyes were flying all across the numbers and lines.

"I sometimes forget Miss Efficient Secretary wants to have everything under control." he hissed.

"Well if it weren't for me..." she left the sentence incomplete still eyeing the papers.

"Yeah, yeah, this place would've bankrupted long ago." he quickly completed rolling his eyes.

"Good thing you understand that. Now," she said finally looking up and slapping him in the stomach with the binder. "Be a good and obedient worker and take these to the lobby," she watched her wristwatch, "It's already half past ten and our little star boy will be arriving at any moment."

"Actually I think I saw him going to the dressing rooms just before I went to knock on your door." said Ennis watching the woman pace away.

"Really?" she asked a bit surprised, looking back to the man nodding. She remained quiet for a few seconds, arms crossed. "Well anyway, I'll get back to the office." she began to walk away again. "Call me if anything happens."

"I will." he said before she disappeared.

Being back in her office she quickly closed the door leaning back against it, she let out a heavy sigh with both hands firmly gripping the doorknob. She eyed the phone buzzing like crazy in the middle of the black mahogany desk; an annoyed sigh escaped her lips. It was tiresome most of times to be the only one capable enough to handle the administrative part of the business, but oddly enough she had always found it quite entertaining and really challenging. Probably those were some of the reasons she had been hired to do this. The continual buzz of the phone caught her attention again and she immediately went to pick it up, raising a brow in sing of intrigue when she saw her boss' name on the screen.

_'Why?'_ that was the only word in her mind.

Not over-thinking it she quickly tapped the answer button putting on the speaker.

"Now _this_ is odd." she said nonchalantly.

"You sure know how to greet people don't you?" the snarky voice came over. She was a taken aback by the fact that the background was silent.

"Where are you exactly?"

"It's just like you to completely forget proper working etiquette." the man sighed. She could practically hear him rolling his eyes. "What does my location have to do with anything?"

She smirked before answering; almost swearing he could hear her lips twitching up. "It's my understanding that working protocols only apply _if_ both people are actually working," then she added, "Which I'm pretty sure you're not doing right now. Oh, and answering your last question, well it's quite strange to hear you calling me from a silent place. You're usually roaming the clubs whenever you're travelling."

"It was a long flight, ok?" he could hear the man ruffling his hair with annoyance. "Besides, it's not like I'm ignoring the envelope you _accidentally_ placed in my suitcase." the sound of the envelope's paper crunching came over the phone. "And by the way, it is not roaming, ok? It's called business advertisement. Usually it's more effective when you go directly to the customers. It's quite effective."

"Well, about the envelope, considering where you were going to spend the weekend I figured it was a good chance as any." she chuckled. "But you know, good thing you also help with the advertisement thing. You're finally understanding the importance of expanding."

"Why do I sometimes get the feeling that you act more Boss-like than me?" she smiled picturing what face the man was doing with that question.

"Just with the administrative things." she said proudly.

"Thank god for that." he chuckled. "Anyway, the reason why I'm calling you-"

"Fucking hell Deucalion! What happen this time?" she quickly interrupted anticipating any kind of stupidity his boss had done by now.

He let out a sigh. "Seriously Kali? Can't you give me a little bit more of credit? You should have more faith in your boss."

"Have you _met_ my boss? Should I tell you about the time he completely blew off a good business opportunity in New York?"

The man groaned. "I thought we had agreed to _never _talk about that anymore."

"Ah ah ah" she said correcting the man, "Not in front of Ennis."

"Fuck." he hisses.

"Anyway, back on topic. What is this call for?"

"Well, _as I was saying_, I just came back from doing a few rounds in some the bars and clubs and got myself a good amount of interested new clients." he chuckled. "Not that it was _that_ hard to convince them once they knew what the business was about. Did you know we're quite famous?

Kali scoffed. "Of course I knew." imagining her frowning at that expression she quickly added. "Did you already forget how many times we tell clients to give recommendations for the club?"

"Ah yes." he quickly said. "One of your many business policies." he smirked.

"Say what you will, but you gotta admit that thanks to that we've been getting our fair share of clients for the past decade."

"I won't argue with you at that." he said smiling. "Anyway, I also called to ask about my special package."

"Ah that." she said sprinting to search on her agenda, quickly flipping through the pages and coming to a stop tapping one of the lines with her finger. "Actually I've been keeping track of it all day. According to the last update it made it to the delivery office around the last hours of the evening, _and_ since weekends are non-working days I'm afraid you'll have to wait until Monday."

"Hmm," he remained contemplative for a moment, "well as long as you have it ready for my arrival I won't complain."

"_Seriously_?! That would be a first." she snorted.

"Ha ha, very funny." he said mockingly. "Oh, and how's tonight's theme looking?"

"To tell the truth, quite promising. Your little star boy just arrived."

He smiled. "Then I trust you'll do the usual for me, right?"

She sighed with annoyance. "Yeah, yeah, I will so don't worry. Okay?"

"Thank you very much my beautiful secretary." he said in an elegant tone. "I am looking forward to it."

"Could you please quit it with the high mannered acting crap?"

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry. Well, anyway see you next Monday."

"Ok, see you."

After hanging up she sighed once more, a little bit annoyed at the constant headaches that her boss gave her. She had to admit that Deucalion knew his way around things pretty well, after all it was him who talked her into this business from the very beginning and also, at some point, it was him who gave her the confidence she was lacking. Not that anybody else knew or needed to know that (Actually it was more like her threatening him into never saying it). In many ways she admired the man and knew that no matter what situation they came across, as long as they stayed cool headed and focused they could overcome it.

They only thing she could never agree to was that _fixation_ her boss had, a fixation she knew would one day be the ruin of them all.

She sighed once more, getting ready for another night in the club.

* * *

Trust is important, an important factor that drives people in different ways.

It does not come equally to everyone however, and the way you cope with it varies with each person.

Derek Hale knows this _very_ well.

Back in school Derek was the kind of guy who had it all easy. He was really good at sports, so it was quite easy for him to join whatever sport team he felt like trying. He's always been good looking so he had no difficulties in catching people's eye and turning heads more often than not, attention that in_ those _times he really liked. He was really smart, and kind bookish, so he was always at the top of his class. He also had the already going prestige and fame that his family name had so it's not like there was a single person who hadn't at least heard of him, such that at one point the young Hale boy inwardly gloated of his position in life.

Derek Hale indeed had everything any person would wish to have, he had everything a teenager could only dream of, he could have the entire world at his feet. Life, however, had other things coming his way.

The Hale family always had high moral standards about life itself, family and social values were an everyday thing amongst them so no Hale family member ever grew to be a pedantic or self-conceited jerk or a showoff or anything of the sort. For as long as Derek could remember his parents always made efforts to teach him and his sisters how to always care for family first; to treasure friendship and loyalty; to respect all people alike regardless of religion, sex preferences or breed status… and the list would just get longer and longer if he kept going on like that. Bottom line, the Hale Family was family who did not tolerated self-conceited bullshit and would always help its family members to be people of good.

The tall young Hale would always make a happy smile every time he remembered the good old days of his childhood and most of his days as teenager (In Cora and Laura's words he would mostly be doing a stupid looking face and he would immediately tell them to shut the fuck up), every one of his memories was a treasured jewel he would never dream of letting go. Like the several times when all of them, his uncle included, would go on road trips all around the country mostly looking at roadside attractions or camping every now and then whenever they thought the place was amazing (Actually it was more Cora and Laura non-stop blabbing how beautiful it looked and Talia casually suggesting how great it would be to spend the day in a place like that until his father _just had_ to give up) or any other thing they could think of. Regardless of whatever they did, Derek was just happy to be with them.

Things, however, began to go down because of an unavoidable reality: _the true world_.

If he could just go back in time and re-do things over, he would first go and scream at himself to not be so naive and to not be such a stupid trustful idiot. He certainly was not blind to the term of betrayal and deception, neither was he ignorant to the flaws of human nature, but he did have to admit that, up until _that_ moment of his life, he never actually grew out of his childish bubble of a world. The pain and confusion he gained out of it was more than enough proof of that. So it was really no surprise that he changed to what he is today, it was no surprise to his family that he wasn't as open as before, it was not so uncommon to close himself off from people with the potential to hurt him again.

He was _not_ willing to allow himself anymore suffering from anyone.

His family was the _only_ people worthy of his trust.

"Stop it." a voice interrupted his line of thoughts, poking him just between his brows.

"Hey!" he quickly slapped the finger away. "What was that for?"

"So you would stop sulking." said the older Hale while driving, eyes on the road.

"I was not sulking." the young man frowned.

"Dery-boy, if there's one thing you can't _ever_ hide from me is your sulking." he smirked.

Derek rolled his eyes. "So what, now you're a shrink?"

Peter scoffed. "Please, you're not that hard to read." he saw the younger boy glared at him with a sharp look, "No, really Dery-boy, I mean your face might put on this scowl of death and your eyes might be able to just freeze things right on the spot but..." he let the pause linger in the air.

"_But…?_" Derek just repeated, the expectant look on his face forming within seconds.

"Well, I'm a Hale after all," he looked at his nephew from the corner of his eyes, "And I think that together with knowing you for almost a full length of twenty eight years provides me with a good chunk of experience on how to read you, my dear Dery-boy." he smirked.

Derek kept silent for a few seconds, taking in every word from his uncle. "How many times have I told you to stop calling me that?"

Peter smiled, knowing his nephew as well as he did he was not surprised by the younger Hale's reaction with the sudden change of subject. "A thousand time I guess," he smiled at Derek, "But you know that's not gonna stop me, right?" Peter knew very well that Derek, in his usual way of being, was silently thanking him for pulling him out of his depressive thoughts.

"Yeah, unfortunately I know as much." he sighed looking out the window. "Can you now tell where the fuck are we going?" he said in an annoyed tone.

The older man just snorted, well aware of Derek's way of trying to not think about whatever was crossing his head. "Don't worry Dery-boy. I told you, didn't I? This is a special gift from me to you, for your birthday."

Derek said nothing, remembering once again how odd it seemed. He had already received a birthday gift from Peter.

"Besides," Peter continued, "It's kind of a little getaway from the stressful side of a business life." he said in a dramatic tone.

"Getaway? _Seriously_?" he said in a disbelieving tone. "Peter I'm pretty sure that every day you have enough getaways for at least five business lives. Actually scratch that, I'm pretty sure you're the only person who could make a business life out of getaways." he said crossing his arms and giving his uncle a mocking smile.

"You really think so?" Peter asked with a thoughtful look in his face.

"Oh my god." groaned the young man.

"You know I think I'll look into that another day." the older man said smiling.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. _So_," he remarked the word, "What_ exactly_ is the place we're going to?"

"Ah ah, that's not how surprises work Dery-boy." he said with a mischievous smile. "Besides, I assure you that you're totally gonna thank me for this"

"The only thing I'm _ever_ going to be grateful to you for is when you stop calling me that."

"Oh you know you love it." he flaps his lashes at the young Hale.

"Seriously Peter, I'm starting to regret this. Where the heck are we going?" he said a little bit more exasperated.

"Derek," the man made a long pause, his tone was a stern one making the young man frown with expectation and a little bit of concern for the unusual tone in the older man. "I know how much you like and also _need_ to be ahead of possible events, I understand that and I understand _why _you're like that, really." the younger Hale sighed with the implication turning his eyes down to his lap and clenching his fists. "But seriously Derek, _when_ was the last time you just rolled with things and enjoyed the moment? Sometimes life is about surprises, spontaneity, improvisation." he paused to take a quick look at his nephew, the boy was breathing evenly, most likely measuring the weight of his words. "Listen to me Derek," he paused again not looking away from the road feeling the boy's eyes on him, "For once don't be _Derek Hale_, just be Derek."

The older man said no more after that, he really was having a great time annoying the fuck out of his nephew but he also knew when to take things seriously. Derek, on the other hand, finally giving up on trying to get some information out of his uncle and taking in every one of those last words decided to remain silent for the rest of the drive and tried to not feel too uncomfortable with the whole situation. If he was being honest he still felt quite worried of what his uncle had in store for him, but also he felt kind of excited as well with the whole mystery albeit he knew he might ended up regretting it later.

Derek snorted at that.

Begrudgingly he knew his uncle was right. He knew he had to do exactly what the older Hale was saying, but it was difficult to break free from a certain routine or certain way of thinking, a habit that was so engraved into his everyday-life aspect that it was almost impossible to think of himself without doing such thing or having such thoughts. It was just his way of _being_ him. So trying to hide a smile, especially from his uncle, he just waited eagerly for their destination.

Not that his uncle needed to know.

* * *

He was finally seeing his reflection.

His gut wrenched with disgust.

The man in the mirror was not him.

The man in the mirror was another person.

Like every other night, especially on weekend nights, he would always arrive at eleven o'clock in the evening or a little bit earlier to start with his other 'job.' It was the other side of him that sometimes felt like drifting along with the situation, taking a liking to the place and the things that his real self allowed out of need. His face made an almost imperceptible twitch of disgust at the thought. He sometimes hated himself for allowing such low drop in his life, but it was not like he had many other options or any options at all. He knew he didn't want to be a burden to his friends and any relatives he could count on where out of the question. Ever since the day he lost his mother he knew that a piece of his soul was taken away from him, he was so drown on a spiral of sadness and misery that he couldn't care if the whole world exploded right before his eyes. It took him a good time to get back in track, probably after the intervention with his father.

His father decided one day to drag his ass out the bed, forcing him on a road trip to Seattle. It was the longest ride Mr. Stilinski knew about that it could be made without too much stopping for refueling, which he knew would give his son a moment of hesitation to try and run back home to crawl under the blankets if he ever got the chance. The entire time during the ride was a non-stop argue (a discussion so heated that at one point Mr. Stilinski had to pull over and not crash into their certain deaths) about how his son should start to get the fuck back to life and move on, the boy obviously was reluctant to do so and started yelling back about how his dad cared so little for the passing of his mother. Stiles felt a hand slapping his cheek right on the spot. Mr. Stilinski quickly said that of course he was missing his dear and beloved wife, which made his heart felt like being torn apart every time he thought about it, but he also said how much it was tearing him seeing his one and only son wither away in sadness and him not being able to help him out. He also said that if he could have known things were going to end up like that then maybe it would've been better if _he_ had died instead of Stiles' mother. In that moment the young boy couldn't hold back a new set of tears.

His father being dead? No, of course he didn't want his father dead and even if the opposite had occurred then he would as well mourn his father's passing. It's just that having his mother being taken away when he was thirteen years old was rough, and also that fact they were very close just made it all the more painful. Regardless of the situation there was no child who, having being loved by his parents, wouldn't mourn and cry over the death of one them.

In the end and after several miles of screams, guilt trips and tears, and finally a pull over for the last straw of guiltiness, father and son were finally hugging each other and apologizing for every little thing, laughing in the end with another hug, a soft smile and a new vision for both of their lives. It would be hard and there was no denying that, but they knew they still had each other and they both knew they would always give their best to be there for each other.

The boy smiled at the memory.

He was so engrossed in his memories that he totally missed the sound of the door being opened and then closed.

"Such a thoughtful face." said a voice right behind him, snapping him back into reality with a startled jump and gasping.

"Holy fuck!" he gritted at the other guy. "Why in the fucking hell do you always have to come and scare the living shit out of me?" he cried flailing his arms around.

"My, my," the said the other guy clicking his tongue with displeasure, "Such a colorful language, don't you think?"

"Fuck off Aiden." he said turning back again to face the mirror, applying the finishing touches to the mask we was supposed to wear for tonight's show.

"Ok, I get it, you're busy." said the other guy stepping back and leaning against the wall. "I just came by to see how you've been? You know, you been a little gloomy lately." he started making small talk.

"Like I've always been." he answered applying some kind of glitter jelly to the mask he was going to wear for the night.

"Well then I take that you're ready for 'Carnival Night,' right?"

"As ready as I can be." Stiles looked a Aiden through the mirror. "Where's Ethan by the way?"

"He's getting ready." he answered toying around with a stone ornament. "He's got the first two rounds with the new guys."

"I heard about the newbies." he returned his eyes to his task. "How do they look by the way?"

"Well," Aiden paused making a thoughtful face. "They're well-built if that's what you're talking about." he said seeing the other boy shaking his head with a smirk, "Though if you refer to their way of performing then I gotta say I haven't seen that yet."

"Figures" he simply said.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Aiden asked furrowing his brows.

"Well," he paused looking from the mask to Aiden's reflection, "He's usually more into the whole business than you," when the other boy scowled he added, "Ethan is always going from one side to the other helping in every aspect he can. I've heard he has pissed Ennis many times because he just can't stop sticking his nose in thing he shouldn't concern himself with," he paused putting the finished mask aside and turning to face Aiden, "Or so Ennis said." he shrugged.

"Well, he's dedicated. Obviously he'll want to do and help much as possible." his tone was almost filled with pride.

"That's true." Stiles smiled at the statement, eyes fixed on the guy. He had known the twins Ethan and Aiden for at least a whole year since he started working in the club, and if there was one thing that everybody could see it was that regardless of the constants pissing-each-other thing they had going on they also respected and admired each other… of course not that they said that out loud. He smirked when he saw Aiden's light blush.

"A-Anyway," he said stuttering a bit and tearing his eyes away from the other boy, "I just wanted to make sure that you were getting ready." he said leaving aside the stone he was playing with, heading for the exit. "Remember that Spark is the one opening for the main event, and it's not like 90% of the clients are her for any other reason." he said with irony.

Stiles huffed at his words; the other boy knew pretty well how much he hated any comment related to that. "Yeah, yeah, I'll be ready before it's my turn."

"You better be." Aiden turned back, side-looking at Stiles with the door almost closed behind him. "Besides, I pretty much doubt you'd want to get on Kali's bad side." When he saw the other boy about to say something he quickly added. "With that I'm talking about that really scary side of hers when she goes all crazy about the club. You know how she can get all wolf-mode when someone threatens the business." he fought down a smirk when he saw the other guy shivering at the thought.

"Ok, ok, I get it." he sighed. "I'm not exactly looking forward to have my head blown off by the power of her stare you know."

Aiden chuckled. "Then let's get to business my dear _Spark_." he said wiggling his eyebrows before closing the door.

At first he let out a chuckle because even though Aiden could sometimes be such a snarky and sarcastic asshole ("Hello Kettle, I'm the black pot", said Aiden. "Ok, I get it" Stiles groaned) he still had a good side which was funny and really cool, and it also was rarely seen by anyone who wasn't Ethan. He had grew to like the pair, Ethan more than Aiden for obvious reasons, and being in the same line of work as well as working in the same place kind of forced them into a certain degree of coexistence, so is not like he could say that he didn't have enough time to get to know them both. He first had met them about a year and a half ago when Ennis introduced the pair to him as the new acquisitions for the club (God how he hated that word whenever the shaved man used it), he was a little bit surprised because, although it was not that uncommon for twins to be working in the thing same as him, he never before had the chance to actually be acquainted with an actual couple of twin brothers or sisters. So yeah, that's one more off the bucket the list.

Stiles decided to not linger in his thoughts anymore before his mind started to get bright ideas about randomly popping up any kind of topic, that fact being a good trigger for his mouth to ramble even to himself. Carefully eyeing the rest of the several outfits he would be wearing for the night, together with the recently customized mask for the Carnival themed party, he then knew it was time for another quick shower, despite the fact that he took one before leaving his apartment, just to make sure the makeup he was going to have applied didn't get ruined with the sweat layer he worked on his way to the place. He winced at the thought, but knew there was really not much he could do about it, especially since it was Kali's idea to do this whole thing (or actually it was just getting suggestions from the boss and it was always Kali who came up with the setup) so there was not much complaining he could do… unless he wanted Kali's legendary fire glare to burst his head into smithereens. So yeah, no thanks.

He gave himself one last glance through the mirror.

"Put on a smile," he whispered forcing his face to smile, "You're the star of the show that everybody expects tonight so you have to smile." He knew he was just trying to relax himself, but the words came out more like a scold and warning.

"You are the star boy who everybody loves." he said again trying to smile, his lips were just awkwardly twitching.

"You're the one everybody comes to see, the mayor reason why this place is successful," every word he spat at his reflection sounded like it was being said by another person. The words just felt too foreign in his mouth.

He frowned.

"_You_ are the main reason why Stiles can still pursue his dream." he voice turned harsh.

_"You_ are the main reason why Stiles hasn't fell into despair yet." his eyes made a death glare.

"_You_ are the main reason why Stiles hasn't yet turned insane from all of this." his voice broke.

"You are… his _only_ way out." he whispered, feeling a sting in his eyes.

"You are _Spark._" He said last before allowing himself a couple of tears.

The soft sobs were quickly drown in the loud music pounding through the walls.

Just like every night.

* * *

"The Wolf Pack Nightclub?!" To say Derek was gaping would be an understatement. "_This_ is your idea of a birthday gift?! A fucking _strip club_?!" he was flabbergasted and watching his uncle unlock his seat-belt making that stupid cocky grin of his that only made him pent up more anger and confusion at the same time. "For crying out loud Peter! You know, next to your BDSM present _and_ the Kama Sutra book you gave me, I think this is the worst of them all."

Peter remained quiet, staring at him with a blank expression.

"What?" Derek barked no longer able to contain the silence.

"Are you still a virgin Derek?"

"_Seriously?!_"

"Ok, so you're not." he said shrugging dismissively, exiting the car and leaving behind a flabbergasted Derek.

"Damn it! Peter!" once the younger Hale was out of his stupor (And after several failed attempts to break free of his seat-belt) he quickly went after his uncle. "Peter!"

Just before Derek could say another word the older man interrupted. "Ok, listen here Derek." with those words the young boy stopped. Peter only called him by his name when he wanted to say something serious. "Seriously Derek," he said clasping his hands together, breathing evenly and taking a few seconds to find the appropriate words. "For once, just _try_ to relax. Life is an adventure and sometimes, just sometimes, is best if you ignore your brain and listen to your instincts."

Derek remained silent; the words were starting to bring up old and unpleasant memories.

"Derek, we're all humans and we make mistakes. That is inevitable and you know it" he added getting a good idea of what was coursing through his nephew's mind. "All I'm asking you is to just let go of all your worries, just for tonight follow my lead, okay?" he saw the hesitation in the boy's face. Derek just hated relinquishing control. "You know you can trust me." he said putting his hands on Derek's shoulders. He felt the boy relaxing under his touch.

After a few moments of silence Derek finally looked him in the eye, poking him in the chest with his index, a menacing look in his face.

"If you so as much hook me with another drag queen I'll rip your throat out-"

"'With your teeth.' Yeah, yeah, I already know how that goes." completed Peter after interrupting him smirking. Derek only sharpened his glare at him.

This wasn't the first time Derek had been dragged to a nightclub by his uncle, and the Hale boy also knew it wouldn't be the last. They had gone before to other nightclubs (more like Derek being tricked into going), especially on the several occasion that both of them went out for business dealings. It was during one of those trips that Peter, after dragging him into a club, had hooked him up with a drag queen (Yeah, too many tequila shots to recognize some_ things_)… but that was a story for another time.

"Don't make me regret this Peter." he said in a warning tone. The older Hale simply stepped aside extending his arm to the building as an invitation.

* * *

The Wolf Pack Nightclub.

There was no one in this city who didn't know about it or even at least heard about it, it was a night sensation that all adults dreamt about. It was a place that dragged attention every time its name made it through someone's lips, like a charming spell that attracted attention wherever it was chanted. Even the young population of the city knew about it and almost every night there was a couple of tricksters being drag down to the police station for use of fake ID's, cases that only increased the mystery that was 'The Pack,' as most referred to it. It was well known that The Pack was closed to general public and, even when you were someone of name and fame, without the proper credentials you were not allowed inside; it was one of the rules for admittance that only selected people could make it in, many of them not knowing how you could get to be one this selected people. Actually the rule was quite simple and yet hard to come by, the only way to be admitted inside was by 'reference' which could only be supplied by an actual member of the club or by anyone who worked in the club; however, said recommendation was not absolute. Whenever someone new was recommended to the club they would always receive advice to announce such thing when presenting their reference (which had to be an authorized numeric code), after which they would receive a kind of a tour through the club's facilities and filled in about their activities. Finally at the end of their first night, the newcomers would be asked to leave behind a way of contacting them to inform them of daily events, reservations, offers, bonus, etc.

The Pack seemed more like an organization than just a club.

When Derek and Peter made their way to the entrance they start noticing that every few seconds a person or a group of people were being allowed through a big double metal door, only after a few seconds the door was opening again either allowing entrance to more people or the last people being dragged out probably to the police or something (some of them were tossed into the nearest garbage bin). Aside from those who went straight for the door showing some kind of credential the rest of the people made a line waiting for their turn to be granted entrance. They both decided to get in line and wait for their turn, something that came along pretty damn quickly as most of the people making line were smart-asses trying to fake their way in. Security was sure strict in here. When their turn to go inside came around Derek's expectations were to find themselves confronting a couple of enormous guys who would block their way, considering his luck whenever he went out with Peter he expected no less and also thought about expecting a commotion if they weren't allowed inside (It wouldn't be the first time Peter incited one). Big was his surprise when they were greeted by a young man who held an agenda and had a small headset, probably wireless because Derek couldn't see any kind of wiring. The boy seemed to be barely twenty two years old; his height was average as his head barely seemed to reach above Derek's shoulder; he had short curly dark hair; his skin was clear and shiny under the lights of the small lobby and his eyes were somewhat stern but at the same time playful. He was the complete opposite of the enormous muscle security guard that Derek was expecting to handle admittance.

"Good evening gentlemen," the boy greeted slightly bowing at them. Derek thought that _maybe_ this place was really more than just a simple strip club. "My name is Matt, what can I help you with?"

"Good evening Matt." greeted Peter in return, making his usual creepy smile. "My name is Peter and this is my nephew Dery-boy," he signaled the young man beside him to which Derek scowled in his uncle's direction, "We're new to the place."

"Ah! I see." said the boy quickly. His brows perking up and a smile forming in his lips as if there was a deeper meaning to those words. "In that case, can I please see your reference sir?"

"Why certainly my dear boy." answered the older Hale wiggling his brows at the boy while handing him a gray card he pulled out of his pocket. Derek sighed and rolled his eyes while disapprovingly shaking his head. He really wouldn't blame anyone, especially the boy, if they ended up kicked out.

"Okay," Matt's eyes were fixed on the card, "This will just take a few seconds." he said and quickly vanished through a door in the side of the lobby, leaving both Hale men alone in the small lobby.

"We're not getting kicked out right?" Derek asked genuinely concerned.

"Why would they do that?" Peter's face was making a 'duh' expression at his nephew. "We haven't broken any rules so far and I expect _you_ to keep it like that, ok Dery-boy?"

Derek only glared at him sharpening his eyes; his expression was clearly saying 'Are you really serious?'

Peter was still smiling innocently. "What?"

"Sorry to keep you waiting." said Matt quickly exiting the door he went through a few seconds ago. "Your reference has been confirmed," he gave them two IDs, "Congratulations gentlemen, you're officially now members of The Pack." he said with a smile.

"Thank you very much Matt." Peter said giving him another smile, Derek rolled his eyes classifying said smile yet again as creepy.

Matt went to the back of the lobby, standing near a big box placed in the corner near another double metal door. This one seemed to be one of those especial doors that were used to seal off sound.

"Here you go, gentlemen." Matt said getting back Derek and Peter's attention. The boy was holding a mask in each hand.

"What are these for?" asked Derek feeling a lit aback by the items, grabbing the mask in Matt's left hand.

The mask he grabbed was designed like the face of a wolf, with white fur design in the middle and the rest being black fur, the whiskers on the edges of the mask had dark blue glitter that almost made them look like they were swirling whenever they moved; under the mask's left eye there was a small pattern of three lines, each one doing a swirl to the center of the mask, they were covered in dark green glitter. The design was simple and yet very attractive in Derek's eyes, it also made a perfect fit for his face. He couldn't help the grin as he felt quite satisfied with his choice.

Peter's mask on the other hand was a bit flashier because of the excess of designs, patterns and ornamentation. To begin with the mask was a bit more wider than Derek's, the edges making downward spirals made it look like it; the color base for it was a darkish gray tone covered by small line patterns of light gray under the right eye as if they were lines of wind being traced by a small painting brush, said lines also covered by glitter of the same color; the inside edges of the eyes were framed by a pair of weaved threads of black and white, both giving off small glitters here and there; under the left eye there was a small black jewel (most likely costume jewelry) that had the shape of a tear; the upper cut of the mask appeared as a pair of furry wolfy ears and the undercut seemed like the mask was doing an evil grin. It looked somewhat vicious and dangerous. Peter felt quite smugly once he had it on.

"Well you see," started the boy getting the guys' attention, "Almost every weekend The Pack arranges a little theme party for entertainment and variety, you could say it's one of the little... 'things' that our customers always look forward to. Don't worry explanations will come later" Matt went to open the door and held it open for both men. "Now gentlemen, why don't you follow me? Let us begin your tour around The Pack."

"Lead the way." said Peter stepping right in.

Derek didn't move from his place. "Wait, what about the others waiting outside?" he signaled the exit.

"Don't worry about the others." Matt replied with a smile. "Usually one out of fifty is a real customer with reference, so it's not that unusual for sudden delays in the line when a true new client shows up."

"You heard him Dery-boy, come on." he said waving him to get inside. Derek just let out a sigh and started walking after his uncle.

"Besides," said Matt, "In another couple of minutes another will take my place and attend the others." he closed the door and walked ahead of the Hale boys.

Matt was leading them first through a corridor that was full of doors on both sides; each door had a number and a letter attached right in the front probably being part of a labeling system of theirs. Matt stopped a few steps ahead turning back to his customers.

"The doors to my right are called 'Private Seats'," he wiggled his brows up and down, Peter smiled and Derek only nodded. "'Private Seats' can only be used on previous reservation notice; they can also increase the price depending on who you ask for."

"What do you mean by 'ask for'?" Derek asked. He really seemed like he wasn't getting the gist of it. Matt only smiled and Peter shook his head groaning.

"Please excuse my boy here, he's new to all of this." he said draping an arm around Derek's shoulders and patting him in the chest. Derek only glared at him and slapped off the hand.

Matt chuckled. "It's ok, there's always a first time for everything." Derek was about to reply to that when he felt a nudge in his rib cage, glaring to Peter once again. "Now, the rooms to my left are called 'VIP seats'. These ones offer a better view of the main stage and most of the main hall where all parties and events of The Pack take place. They're more for the purpose of relaxing or, as many say, cooling down a bit from the party. Usually these rooms play the same music as in the main hall, only a little bit muffled. It's also a place to go through our service menus in a more relaxed way." he walked to nearest door signaling a weird plate on the wall next to the door frame. "If you ever wish to use one our VIP seats, as well as our Private seats of course, simply use your ID card and slide it over the plate." Both Hale men nodded. "Just make a mental note that a room can only be accessed with one ID card at a time, and once a room is registered under a card the outside plate will not admit another one... though the room _can_ be exited with any card. But please keep in mind that only one card can be used to enter the room." both Derek and Peter nodded again.

Matt began to walk again.

After a few more doors the hallway finally made turn to the right, revealing some steps that went upwards and at the end of those steps there was an exit. Derek noted how the beat of whatever music was being played started to get louder as they climbed the stairs, once they made it to the top the young Hale saw a door with a small two-side mirror window, some lights were flickering in and out so he thought that on the other side it was what the boy had called the main hall.

"Through this door we would be stepping into the main hall's second floor, which mainly is just a balcony that goes all around the second floor. Usually is more for panoramic views, especially when the guys are performing."

Derek nodded. "You mean the strippers right?" Peter sighed making the young Hale look at him with an annoyed expression as if to say 'Now what did I say?'

"Mostly yes." answered Matt getting their attention. "But it's more than just stripping." when he saw the younger man looking at him like he had grown a third eye Matt smiled and added. "Don't worry, give it time and you'll understand. Anyway I'll continue. The main hall also has four spiral staircases connecting both floors, but sometimes when there's any performance showing up, people tend to use the staircases, if you know what I mean." both Hale men nodded. "Now the first floor has several seats and tables all around the place for your comfort, as well as booths but mostly only on the edges of the hall or near the stage. We have two bars, each on the sides of the hall, and our bartenders are experts in any kind of drink you can ask for. There are also waiters to take your drinking order in any moment." Matt took a moment to see how his words had settled on each of them. "Well I think that would the basic things to know around here."

"I see." Peter immediately said. "If that's the case then I think I'll be slowly taking my time to look around. That's not a problem right?" he asked the boy.

Matt shook his head. "Oh no, not at all. After all we always encourage our customers to discover and explore our various services." he smiled.

"Now that's what I call customer service." the older Hale said draping an arm around the boy.

The young Hale expected to see the young boy freaking out, however Matt was unfazed by the gesture making Derek wonder just what kind of things had he experienced before. "Well then, I guess that means you'll be taking your own tour around, right sir?" the boy asked side glancing the older man.

"You can bet I am," Peter answered pinching the boy's cheek. Derek thought yet again that they would probably end up getting kicked out. "Dery-boy heads up!" the quick call made the younger Hale jump (just a little) as he felt a couple of keys hitting his chest, his hands quickly scrambling to catch them. Once he had the keys he noticed it was the keys for his Camaro, he looked back at his uncle with a cocked brow as silent interrogation. "So you can leave whenever you feel like it but remember, you promised me that you would just be you, ok?" his uncle gave him a smile.

"Ok, I get that." he said half annoyed and half grateful. "But what about you? I mean how are you gonna-"

"Don't expect me to come back with you." he simply answered, smirking.

The younger Hale sighed finally getting his uncle's meaning. "Of course." he shook his head because his uncle couldn't really help it, could he?

"Well anyway I'm off to explore '_The Pack_'." he said using the most dramatic tone he could come up with in those words, turning back and walking down the aisle until he was out sight.

"I'm so sorry about him," Derek said turning his eyes to the boy.

"It's okay." the boy waved his hands dismissing the whole situation.

"It's just that he can really be such a-"

"Creep?" the boy completed smirking.

"Exactly."

"Don't worry." the boy laughed. "Believe me, if you had the same job as me you would consider something like _that_," he pointed in the direction Peter took off, "So fucking normal that it wouldn't even be funny." he smiled again.

"Fuck." it was the only words that came out of Derek's lips.

"Well, I guess that's all for now so I'll leave you to explore to your heart's content," the boy bowed at him, "If you have any more doubts be on the lookout for me." with another smile the Matt started to walk away.

"Wait." Derek said after a few seconds, the boy turned his gaze to him. "I-It's a little bit embarrassing for me but… Is there anything you can suggest me to start with?" when he saw the boy's brows rising up he felt even more stupid for that question. Derek suddenly decided that the wall was an interesting thing to look at.

After a few seconds of silence the young Hale finally decided to look at his host, the boy was looking his wrist watch. "Well," he said without averting his eyes from his watch, "In a few more minutes Spark will begin his performance," Matt finally looked up at Derek, "So I'd say that _that_ would be a good start," he snorted, "A _fucking_ good start actually… well of course, in the given case that guys are your thing."

"That's actually not a problem to me but, Spark?" the young Hale had a confused look all smeared across his face. Making aside the fact that he just outed his bisexuality in front of a complete stranger of course, which he would later have the time to freak out about.

"Oh right, I keep forgetting you're new. You see, Spark is the number one performer of The Pack and he's the main reason why every weekend the place is so fucking cramped with customers. So if you're new and don't know really where to start with I highly suggest that you go and see him perform. _Really_." he said wiggling his brows.

"Is he really _that_ good?" he made skeptical look. He couldn't just wrap the idea that one dancer was enough to bring in so much public.

A few minutes ago, when Matt showed them the entrance to the main hall through the second floor, Derek took a good glance over the two-side mirror getting impressed to see many people in one place. He could understand that a place such as this could bring so many people together, but that most of them came only to see one single dancer seemed a bit over the top for him.

Matt started to nibble is lower lip, closing his eyes and making a face that said that he had trouble putting his thoughts together. "How should I say this?" he hesitated again with the words that tried to come out of his mouth. " You see, there's really no way to say it in words _sooooo_ you're better off seeing it for yourself." feeling a bit bold Matt took Derek by his shoulder and turned him around, pushing him towards the exit. "Either way go and make your own opinion." having said that Matt once again began walking away down the corridor just as Peter did a few minutes ago. "Oh, and try not to drool too much." he last said while laughing and finally disappearing from his sight.

Derek felt a bit taken aback by that last comment. For a second he wondered if by any chance Erica frequented the place, because those kind of asinine comments could only come from someone like her (or worse yet, maybe Laura worked here for all he knew). Shaking his head and thinking it was not the time for family comparisons he decided to do as Matt had suggested him, to watch Spark performing. So crossing the door that lead to the second floor's balcony his sense were suddenly drown on the loud and intense music blasting at their fullest potential in the room. Some of the lights that moved around forming squiggly figures liked to walk all over his pupils momentarily blinding him. So searching for a spot where the neon lights couldn't get the chance to drill shining holes through his eyes he leaned on a spot next to the nearest staircase, taking his time to glance at the entire hall.

To say that the place was really big would be an understatement.

The main hall was easily able to contain at the very least around 200 hundred people given the space in the first floor combined with the second floor's balcony, also if took into account the space that was provided by the four staircases in contrast with the space taken by both bars then it could easily go up to 220 people. Not to mention the space between booths, where people could probably squeeze in one or two more.

Derek also took notice about the fact that everyone in the hall was wearing a mask, no matter where he turned his gaze to everyone in sight was wearing one. Each mask was a different from the others, each mask branded a unique style and design, and yet he couldn't help but feel that there was something more to it than that, unfortunately he just couldn't place his finger on it.

He decided to leave his spot near the staircase when his eyes lingered for a few seconds on one of the bars, he suddenly felt throat drying up and thought that it was a good moment to have a drink. Once down on the first floor the nearest bar was the one on the right side of the hall, the bartender was a seemingly young and slim dark man with a buzz cut and honey colored eyes. Unlike the customers in general Derek took notice that the club's staff didn't wear any mask at all. As the boy poured and served drinks to the different customers, his face was occasionally lighted up by the neon lights flickering in and out, revealing a huge grin in his face, he was clearly enjoying his job. The young Hale thought that it was things like those that gave bars and clubs a totally different aspect. As soon as Derek approached the bar the young boy noticed him.

"Hey there buddy." he greeted with a big smile. "Newcomer aren't ya?"

"Am I that obvious?" Derek cocked a brow and made a playful smile.

"Well buddy, when you have a job like mine you tend to recognize every one of your customers." he winked at Derek.

"How can you tell when everybody is wearing a mask." he tilted his head.

"You just get the knack of it." he chuckled. "Anyway, what can I get for you?"

"Any suggestions?" Derek felt surprise by himself; it was fucking odd of him to be asking for suggestions.

The boy seemed to be eyeing him carefully. "I think I know a perfect choice for you." saying that the young man took out two bottles, ice and some lemons and started to out the ingredients in a cocktail mixer. A few shakes later the drink was served in a highball glass. The drink was a light bluish and the was a slice of lemon sitting in the edge of the glass. "Here you go buddy, one Blue Lagoon for you."

"Thanks." Derek took the glass, his lips twitching into a slight smile. After paying for his drink Derek turned around and leaned with his back against the bar, he eyed the hall once more. "Hey… um..."

The boy behind the bar chuckled. "The name's Marc."

"Ok, so Marc, when is this Spark performing?" he said nonchalantly.

"Ah," the boy smirked and wiggled his brows, "So they already told about Spark, huh?"

"Well this kid Matt said that I should totally see his performance to understand, not sure what he meant by that." Derek's brows rose in sign of confusion.

"Well then, see those booths by the side of the front stage?" Derek followed his signaling finger, eyeing some empty booths just by the side of the stage, he nodded in response. "Go there and take a seat." Marc eyed his wristwatch. "Spark's show starts in about five minutes."

With a last nod Derek started walking towards one of the empty booths near the stage, he took his seat and leaned against the cushy backrest occasionally sipping his Blue Lagoon. He eyed his wristwatch.

_'Five minutes, huh?'_ he somehow felt a bit annoyed about all this and yet there was a part of him who at the same time felt quite excited. _'This better be worth it Peter.'_

With another sip of his drink the young Hale remained still waiting for the famous dancer.

* * *

"Easter themed my ass." said an annoyed Spark when he saw himself in the mirror.

At first when he was dressing and making the touches to his mask he hadn't notice, but now that the attire was complete and all he felt not only _stupid_ but also thought that the whole set itself was ridiculous. Ok, so he understood that with Easter holidays and all it was quite common and also somewhat predictable (especially if he took his boss into account) that The Pack wanted to do a carnival-like party, but was this really necessary? The first attire he had to wore for his first show was, as always, a thin cloth made of white silk with sequin patterns on it, on both the pants and the jacket- or shirt- or whatever the hell it was the cloth that covered his upper body. The jacket- or shirt- or whatever- had openings framed by metal rings allowing little spots of soft pale skin to get bathed in whatever light could come through (He actually laughed at those since he thought it would a fitting attire for those who were still attached to The Matrix), said holes cascaded the back of the boy in two lines right down to the small of the back and being continued by the ones running along the back of the legs in the pants of the attire… of course said holes were only missing on the underwear zone (_'No prior-nudity-flashing, thank you very much_'). The suit was mystically shining with every available light projecting its own beams at every near surface, shades and lights seemed to blend perfectly together whenever his muscles contorted making the thin fabric look like it was his own skin. He was wearing dark gothic boots, adjusted by three strap belts with shining metal buckles, which reached as far as his calf; said boots matching the black belt perfectly adjusted around his slim waist; and finally the third 'black' colored match being the wolf-like mask he was given to wear that night.

His wold designed mask, which he thought it was freaking awesome (_'Hey, wolves are cool and mysterious'_), had a line of black fur in the center and the rest was white colored fur; the whiskers in the edges were framed by a thin line of darkish-silver glitter and they made upward swirls giving the appearance of a happy grin; under the mask's right eye there was a pattern of three straight lines going downwards which gave the appearance of being claw scars, they were covered in dark-gray glitter. Spark thought that the mask was really a nice touch, it made him feel somehow nostalgic and excited which was a weird combination in him.

His was pulled out of his thoughts when he finally noticed Ennis leaning against the frame of his opened door. Seriously, how come that fucking door didn't make any kind of noise when somebody else opened it but cried out loud when he as much was barely touching the doorknob? By the way, he did definitely not yelp. Seriously.

"Ready to go?" he asked, smirking after a 'Holy crap!' shout from the boy.

"Don't you people understand the concept of 'knocking'? I swear to god, you guys are gonna give me a serious heart attack one of these days." He also did definitely not flail his arms… too much anyway.

"Don't worry," the taller man said smirking, "If push comes to shove then I'm sure Kali will have something up her sleeve to save you."

"Fuck," Spark hissed.

"You can say that again." Ennis was trying hard to not choke on his own laughter.

"Then again we're talking about 'The Magic Hat' so it really shouldn't be so surprising." both of the snorted.

The twins had the habit of coming up for nicknames for everyone, and it goes without saying that Kali's nickname (unbeknownst to her and thank god for that) was 'The Magic Hat,' because Kali was able to obtain anything she needed in the right moment. Aiden once said that it was as if she could pull anything out of her ass with magic making Spark to laugh his ass off, it goes without saying that Kali just happened to be passing by when she heard that making Aiden and Spark to do over work for the next month on weekends.

"Well then before times runs out..." he let phrase unfinished making way for the boy to pass.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." and with that Spark headed for the stage.

Pushing a laughing Ennis aside to get through Spark finally started the short walk to the backstage, occasionally waving and smiling to several of the staff who were running around to have everything prepared. He was well known to everybody there, they all knew about the star boy of The Pack. For every show Spark had to perform in the staff would always ask him about what light he preferred or what music suited him best, there was always a non-stop rain of questions when it came to his shows. He liked that though, he liked that he could get to involve his opinion on things like those. Maybe others saw it as something so simple that it really didn't matter but for him it did a fucking lot. For starters it made him felt a certain degree of freedom; he helped him to feel that his life was not completely out of his will and control. Being in this kind of job you get used to the fact that most people see you as nothing but a piece of meat that only serves the purpose of attracting starved customers, hungry dogs. Then there is the fact that, as such, the owner of the place (_'With whom you have that fucking jailing contract by the way'_) could easily make decision for him implying that he had no decision in this side of _his_ life whatsoever. So really liked _that_, that he at least could get to say something about things such as the right music or the appropriate lighting.

He was now standing right behind the stage, his eyes fixed on the dim light beams that made it through the dark curtains that hid him from the audience. The announcer's voice was vague in his ears, his words sounded muffled in the back of his head, he really didn't care about anything every time he was about to hit the stage. His muscles were tense, his breath hitched, and he could feel all of his senses sharpening as if he was having some kind of boost. The adrenaline of the moment would always kick in right before he performed, and a soon as he heard his name being shout the curtain opened.

Showtime.

The dazzling lights were nothing to his eyes who were used to these every time he had to perform, he had learned to focus on just a single point in front of him and go for it (also there was the fact that this time he was wearing a mask). The music started to blast through the speakers and his feet moved accordingly, the beat coursed through his body like a river causing his muscles to twist harmoniously with the flow. It was like some kind of prankster demon had decided to possess a body and then proceed to move like a puppet through the entire length of the stage, contorting and bending his body in ways that were so surreal and yet so enticing that nobody could stop looking at. His hands moved across his body as well, as if they were not his or even worse as if something else had possessed them as well. Slow gestures and tracing slim fingers gliding or sliding across the skinny-tight-white suit he was wearing, with the shadows of the folds and the reflections of the lights combining perfectly together in a dance that evoked the most dark and lustful instincts of the now screaming audience. His legs and feet felt lighter as always when he moved across the stage, sometimes his feet weren't even on the stage as his hands would latch onto one of the several poles scattered across his working space and his body would take enough impulse to sending flying in circles around the pole while doing movements that you could only see in a gymnastics expert. The crowd would shout once again to show how pleased they were.

As time went on the music started to slow down, the clear signal for him to start ripping off the clothes that after this few minutes now felt like a second skin layer; so the clothes flew off revealing his real skin to be covered in a light glittery layer of makeup and very tight black glittering boxer briefs that made everyone gasp. Whistling, cheers, shouts and words that reeked of lust drowned the place. A soft silk-like-pale skinned figure was now shining like the brightest star in the void of darkness with all the lights of the stage pouring down on him, the dim shadows casted on the same skin by lean strong muscles had called a curse that prevented all eyes in the hall from looking anywhere else. The contortion and twist of said muscles as they swayed back and forth with the slow beat of the music had caused all eyes to sway in the same rhythm; every heart in the place was now pumping adrenaline like there was nothing else that mattered for the body. A spark had been ignited in every person in the room. He could feel it himself, as if every little spark of lust and want was calling out to him in a language that only _he_ understood… every spark there was like a slave to the one and only true 'Spark.'

The music got louder again, the beat regained his fast beat and the lights began a new show of colors that danced over the white silky body. It was the signal that the show (the first show of the night) was arriving to its climax. The movements became more violent and erratic, yet all in all they never lost that lustful hitch that worked like some kind of aphrodisiac. Finally, after one last turn around the pole on the very front of the stage, he took the last beat of the music ending with a crawling position on the floor. The audience was ecstatic and cheered him shouting and whistling like there was nothing else that mattered for them.

It had been another successful show of the great Spark.

His chest was pounding like crazy, his muscles felt strained, his breath was uneven, and the layer of sweat made him felt sticky yet all in all he knew he had done a good job as always. His eyes started to wonder around looking at his audience and then time suddenly stopped.

There was a glow of green.

The green of those fields of old.

A green which evoked his past memories.

A green of his happy times.

A green that later became his prison.

A green that he had relinquished and now hated.

A pair of green eyes that, from this day on, he would never forget.

* * *

A/N:_ Finally_ the so awaited encounter takes place. I know, it was about damn time. XD

I don't know about you guys but I feel like some parts are leaning towards angst, not that I want this to turn into something too angsty but I think that the level of sadness it's still right.

I just gotta say I love planning Peter's dialogues and (I'll say it with no shame) I have absolutely no difficulties writing them down. wonder why huh? hahahahaha. Also I've noted how much Hale-family-bickering I like to write down... yeah, personal experience. :P

Anyway I wanna let you guys know that (just like on last chapter) you are free to give me any opinions you have on the story so far, or any questions you would like to make, or if you guys would like to make any kind of suggestions that you feel it could benefit the story, or even better you can also try and make guesses at what's going to happen (I know _I_ would like to do that if the chance was offered XD)... if so then, by all means, go ahead.

Hope you people enjoyed the chapter.

See you guys on the next one. ;)


	4. Chapter 4- Relentless until dawn

A/N: Hey there guys, I'm finally back.

Sweet mother of video games and TV series! I'm so fucking tired right now, but then again i'm the only one to blame. Seriously, you people don't even imagine how much trouble this chapter gave me. It was like I had to keep squeezing my poor brain for ideas and plots.

Anyway, since you guys are porbably anxious to read the update then I'll save the ranting for later, lets get to business.

DISCLAIMER: Blah blah blah Teen wolf not mine and all this is just for fun blah blah blah.

Have fun. :)

* * *

Chapter 4. - Relentless until dawn

He huffed and sighed slumping down on the chair, actually it was more like sprawling his body across the piece of furniture, being careful of not falling through either of the sides of the seat. His breath was even and puffing out white clouds every time he exhaled, the cold air was already kicking in and refreshing his strained and sweaty muscles. He enjoyed the sense of calmness invading the room despite the muffled-yet-still-quite-loud-music that roared through the walls, but when his ears heard the several screams and whistling going on he smiled. He knew, as well as anybody who had at least worked in The Pack for a couple of weeks, that those loud noises were because Spark was doing his show. Man did it sound crowded, and it was just his first performance of the night.

As he kept aimlessly wandering inside his thoughts the sound of the door being opened snapped him back to reality.

"Hey bro, what's up?"

"Hey bro." the blonde boy sat upright, "Aiden where've you been? Isn't _your _turn in just a few more minutes?"

"God, Ethan, relax." he groaned. "Besides, Spark is performing right now, do you really think the crowd will clear as soon as he's finished?" he lifted up his eyebrows remarking his question.

"Ok, ok, you have a point," he said again slumping himself down on the chair, "Still you should start getting ready." tearing his eyes from his brother Ethan just stared at the air for a few minutes while placing his hand over his left shoulder to gently massage it.

"Ever so demanding and professional, right bro?" he said snickering while heading for his wardrobe, letting out a little chuckle when he heard Ethan growling at him. "By the way, what's up with your shoulder?"

"Remember when I said this morning that it felt kind of stiff?" he asked with eyes closed, his hand diligently massaging the affected area. He continued once he heard his brother hum at him. "Well I think it's gotten worse, it feels really sore."

"Obviously," Ethan quickly turned around to confusedly glare at his brother's back, "With the way you keep exerting yourself it's no surprise, so here." he said quickly turning around to toss a box at Ethan's head.

"Hey!"

"I went to Kali and ask her about getting the physician to get your shoulder checked, but as usual she had already locked her ass up in the office when I went to see her." he said turning again to his wardrobe, "But then Ennis saw me about to knock on her door and almost kicked me away, when I told him about your shoulder he gave me those and practically told me to fuck off."

Ethan gave him a warm smile. "Thanks bro."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Aiden said hastily.

Even though Ethan couldn't see his brother's face he knew that the other boy was furiously blushing, it was one the things about being twin brothers. They were quite used to moments like these, where it was only the two of them in the comfort of a private moment between brothers. Not that it was a great bonding moment or anything but both Ethan and Aiden felt that the times where they could just be together, even if they were doing nothing but sitting around, were the moments they would cherish the most. They only cared to be there for each other if needed. They were brothers and nothing was going to change that. Of course, the emotional part was mostly on Ethan's behalf while Aiden wasn't so open about it (or more like being an emotionally-constipated-jerk on Ethan's words).

Both brothers were snapped out of their silent moment when they heard the drowned sounds of cheers and whistling.

"Looks like Spark's about to be done with his first act." says Aiden nonchalantly.

"Yeah," Ethan eyed his wristwatch, "That gives you around ten minutes to get ready." The older twin smirked when he heard his brother curse under his breath.

"You know, it's kind of weird how some people can appear to be so shy or reserved but completely make a 180 turn in some situations." Aiden's sudden and somewhat completely out of place comment made the other twin frown all confused.

"What?"

"Yeah, I mean, like this chick I once dated," Ethan nodded, "She was quite shy and all, actually I could sometimes barely hear her voice whenever she spoke." Aiden's eyebrows rose as he sighed, "But, _man_, the moment we got to bed, you should've seen us," Ethan's face twisted with disgust, "We were rolling around like-"

"Don't!" the older twin interrupted, his back pointing at Aiden who turned to him smirking evilly. "I swear to god, if you complete that sentence I _will_ smother you with my underwear."

"Okay, okay, Jesus," he said trying to sound serious, though his laughter didn't help much.

"Aiden what's your point?" he said exasperated.

"Ok, well, my point _is_ that some people tend to use double personality."

"Yeah, I got that the moment you tried to mentally scar me, what I don't get is _where_ is this coming from." when another loud cheer roared in the room Aiden tilted his head signaling to the door.

"Spark."

"What about him?"

Aiden sighed with frustration, "Don't you remember?" he saw his brother raise his eyebrows confused, "I mean when we first joined The Pack. I remember how Spark used to be all serious and shit, but every time he was on stage it was like he became this whole different person."

Ethan just rolls his hand as a gesture for him to continue.

"_My point is_," he marks those works tilting his head as if to say 'Please catch on to my sentences' and then adds, "Spark seems a lot more loosen up then what he was back in those days, like he doesn't have to hide so much anymore."

Ethan gives him a significant look. "Spark has always been very secretive with his life outside The Pack, you know?" when he sees his brother nod at him in recognition of the statement Ethan turns his back to him to grab a glass of water and chug down two of the painkillers Aiden brought him. "Did you know that only Deucalion knows his real name?" he says once his mouth its clear of water and pills.

Aiden, who has now changing clothes for his performance, nodded in agreement. "I've also heard that Spark has a special contract."

"Not that he's already almost every one's favorite, right?" Ethan said smirking and Aiden snorted.

After a few seconds of silence another wave of loud cheers roared.

"Hey," Aiden called his brother after a few seconds of silence, "You think that next weekend will be worse?"

The cheers echoed once again.

"I'd say definitely." the older twin smirked.

* * *

Kali was smiling.

The cheering crowd was a sign of the great success that was this place, the business she and Deucalion had worked so hard to keep on top of every other competition they could come across. The tons of people she could see through her two-side window were the living proof of the achievement she and her boss had acquired, it felt quite nostalgic whenever she looked back at the time when they first started out with this. It had been a long and rocky road in the beginning, but they had managed to keep it steady with their wits and skills over the several years that The Pack had been running now. There were also times when they thought that they would end up empty handed, seeing every one of their efforts go to waste. Luckily it hadn't been so. All in all The Pack was a treasure she had become deeply fond of, and she knew that both she and Deucalion would try to always give it their best to keep things just like they had envisioned them.

That belief changed two years ago… or more like it would be two years next weekend.

Kali, with arms crossed over her chest, turned around and pointed the controller in her left hand to a recording device resting on the highest shelf of the bookseller furniture in the left of the office. She huffed with annoyance tapping the REC button on the controller, as soon as the device beeped signaling that the order had been confirmed her arms slumped down in her sides. A small chuckle in the corner of the room made her snap a glare in that direction.

"So," the gruff voice of the shaved man standing near the door caused Kali's left brow to twitch, "I assume _that_ would be another request from the boss?" he asked all smugly crossing his arms.

"I will not answer your stupid question." she said turning around to glance through her two-side window once again.

"ok, ok, I get it." he said approaching her and standing by her left side.

Both of their gazes were fixed on the young dancer who was still on stage, waving and flashing a toothy shiny smile while back stepping until he was out of sight behind the stage curtain. Was his imagination or the kid seemed a little stiff? The thought struck him as odd. Ennis couldn't really say he knew the kid too well, but he could say he knew him enough to know that Spark wasn't the type of person who turned stiff (no pun intended) after a show; he also knew that the boy didn't suffer from stage panic or anything of the sort that made a person seem awkward; and also if that was the case, Spark had already been performing for The Pack for a good length of two years. Why the hell would the kid appeared to be uncomfortable after all this time? It made absolutely no sense whatsoever, so it had to be his imagination after all.

"This is going to be another successful night." commented Ennis nonchalantly.

"As it always is and _will_ continue to be." replied Kali with a tone of 'duh, obviously.' The fact that the woman was keeping the topic instead just flipping it off confirmed to the taller man that he had just imagined the whole 'awkward Spark' thing, otherwise Kali would have said something about it… she _always_ had something to say.

"Indeed," he said, "You know, there is one thing I just can't wrap my head around."

"What thing?" she asked giving a side-glance.

"Why?"

Kali merely rose an eyebrow as if to say 'I need more than that you know'.

"I mean Deucalion," he continued when the woman nodded, "What is it with him and this- this- this fixation of his?"

"Fixation?" she deadpanned.

"Yes, _fixation_." he repeated pointing his finger at the empty stage through the window and then at the recording device on the shelf.

The secretary's eyebrows rose up in sign of understanding, after which she sighed heavily and closed her eyes to massage her lids. "Honestly, I wish I knew."

"Then it seems that both of us are thinking the same about _this,_ right?" he gave her a significant look.

"If by this you mean that Deucalion may be as well just throwing down a cliff everything we have worked for, then yes," she sighed again shaking her head and keeping a fixed stare at the audience down on the main hall.

Ennis remained quiet, carefully eyeing the woman beside him. He was quite surprised to see the ever so calculating woman in this state, never before he ever even imagined he would see a worried Kali. "You haven't thought of something yet, huh?"

"In all honesty, I'm still trying to come up with something."

He kept his gaze over her, baffled. "Since how long?"

She made a low growl. "Does it really matter?"

Ennis only sighed.

For the moment he decided against pushing Kali for more info on the matter, he knew very well and he was sure that sooner or later the woman would come up with a plan. They had known each other long enough for Ennis to know that the woman wouldn't let anything or anyone get in their way, not when they had fought for long to achieve what they had now.

In the meantime it was best to focus on the ongoing party.

* * *

As soon as she stepped into the house her lips curled up in a faint smile, especially when she watched her son practically smeared across the stairs while several boxes were scattered around him. The boy's messy-mop was buried beneath a jumble of old clothes he was using as a pillow; his legs were being supported by a pile of boxes sealed with gray tape; and one of his arms was hooked up in the stairs' railing while the other arm was wrapped around an old looking album, the album cover said McCall.

Melissa knew very well that old withered book.

Slowly taking the book from his son's arm, Melissa also slipped her fingers between the boy's mop gently breezing them through Scott's hair and smiling again when the kid started to shift without waking. Deciding to let the boy rest some more she took the album and went to sit down on the enormous couch of the living room, opening the album and flipping through its pages.

The old McCall album contained pictures since Scott's birth to the present time, most of the pictures were of her and her son as the years went by: birthday parties, camping trips, moments of them on the hospital whenever Scott or Stiles got injured for whatever thing they were doing, elementary school, holiday parties like Christmas and others, and many other pictures. Some pictures included other people important to both of them; proof was that at least half of Scott's pictures included mostly Stiles. There were also pictures with the sheriff, especially in the time when he used to scold them for whatever antics they came up with, as well as pictures of Lydia, Jackson and Danny who they knew pretty much since third grade.

As the pages flew by so did the memories of old times, memories of all the good times she and her beloved son had built up together since she could remember. It was quite gratifying to see her little messy-mop boy growing into a fine and dependable messy-mop man, with that cute and trust-inspiring smile that was able to win over anyone's heart (hell, if it had worked with Jackson, although the blonde kept saying otherwise, then it was completely undeniable).

There were also pictures of their high school time together, pictures that started to include Allison. There was a time when Melissa didn't trust their so proclaimed love, she was pretty sure it was nothing more that teenager horniness. Not that she wanted to be the evil character in the story or anything but she really just didn't liked the idea of seeing his son all heartbroken, she knew her son was strong and could easily rise up to anything life threw at him (just like he did since the day his father abandoned them) but she also knew how hard and difficult it was to overcome the disappointment of the so called first love. With those thoughts and the resolution of a mother capable of doing anything for her child, Melissa and Allison started a very rocky relationship and kept it quite unstable for the length of almost a whole year. The most stressful time of Scott's life and, unbeknownst to the teen, also for Melissa.

The decisive moment came on the boys' last day of school during sophomore year.

That day Lydia had called them all to make a dinner in celebration for yet another successful school year (mostly for her high grades and the fact that the others, namely Scott, had barely made it through), which is why she had arranged said dinner at her home inviting all of the gang together with their parents. By that time Scott was already well acquainted with Chris (actually just last week was the time when Scott had been _accidentally_ shot with Allison's bow by Chris). To say that the dinner was a great event with be to overestimate it because, even though most people could say that nothing out of the ordinary was going on, most of the guests (that is to say Scott, Jackson, Lydia, Stiles and Chris) could sense some kind of tension in the air… or more specifically _hear it_ whenever Melissa and Allison exchanged words. At some point during dinner both Allison and Melissa ended up alone in the kitchen while the others were still eating in the dining room, both of them had offered to get some more food for the table. As Allison went to grab another bowl of mashed potato proceeding to heat in the microwave while Melissa picked another bowl of salad, making apparent harmless small talk while they waited for the bowl to finish. It was during this small talk that things started to get a little bit intense, their so called innocent chat started to become more of a discussion (weird enough they both had manage to not be heard by the others). In the end, probably because it was destiny or something, Allison finally proved herself to Melissa. How? The young girl, quite fed up of all the bickering and the hostilities, simply asked if Melissa thought that breaking up with Scott would be the best for the boy in the long run.

Melissa was stunned.

Many could've said that the girl's words came out rash and rude; however, Melissa could see it clearly as the sun, that shine of honesty and love that only a woman who really loved with all of her heart could show. Also it was the implications behind the question, she was only asking how could she help to make Scott really happy in the future, nothing else mattered to Allison but the wellbeing of the disheveled boy and Melissa was pretty sure that whatever answer she gave the girl would follow it… even if the answer was for her to leave for ever. So after carefully thinking about an answer for Allison, Melissa simply smiled at her and said that if she really cared for her son and his happiness then she would come up with the right answer all by herself. Feeling a little bad for the smirk she did at the girl's confused face she decided to leave the teenager alone with her thoughts, giving her a tight hug before she exited the kitchen. Allison was flabbergasted at Melissa's gesture.

She would never know what really happened between Scott and Allison but judging by the bigger than usual smile on her son's face the night after that dinner she figured that both teens had relied their feelings to each other, finally clearing out every last bit of doubt in their hearts. The big hug that Scott gave her that night all the while widening that goofy but cute smile of his was more than enough to prove it.

Allison was definitely the right girl for his son.

As her hands kept flipping over the pages of the album suddenly her eyes caught sight of a paper sliding off from the book and gliding down to the floor, the piece of white paper had some words written on the back. Melissa bowed down to pick it up. Reading the inscription on the paper she quickly turned it over revealing a picture she thought she had lost long ago... actually she thought she had disposed of that picture years ago. She felt a sting in the back of her eyes.

The picture was old, really old, so old that is was yellow around the edges, and judging by the crumples in the paper it was safe to say that it looked like the picture had been handed over and over again like a card in a poker game. The photo featured several couples standing and smiling at the camera man, at their backs there was a forest with thick foliage. Melissa's eyes focused on the two couples at the right end of the picture, each couple had a baby and both babies were sticking out a hand and trying to reach each other. The woman's lips curled into a warm smile.

"Maybe it _was_ destiny after all." she whispered.

Her eyes diverted to the other end of the picture where another couple was holding their own baby, a little boy who was tightly clutched to his mother despite the big smile in his little face.

"Definitely… it was destiny that brought them together."

The room remained silent, except for Scott's occasional snores, while Melissa kept staring at the picture, a picture of old times and old friends… some of them had passed away long ago and others had just left.

Melissa couldn't hold back the tears this time.

* * *

The clock in the nightstand started to beep with the alarm.

The alarm was set to turn on at five in the morning.

The ear-drilling buzz was cut off when a big hand slammed down on the alarm machine, echoing a loud thud when the whole hand had turned (or smashed, cause it's not like anybody would care) off the alarm. Said hand lazily slid off from the machine and ungracefully landed again on the mattress, making grabbing gestures as if the air was solid enough to accomplish that.

He eyes were staring at the ceiling but his mind was not even in the vicinity of his house; his back was resting in the comfy patch of sponginess that was his bed but his muscles were far from relaxing; and his whole body was still numb despite not even being able to claim he had done exerting exercises. Despite everything he physically appeared to be, we was far from being okay… at all.

Indeed.

Derek Hale was shocked.

He was shocked and _still_ couldn't figure out if that was a good thing or bad thing. Mostly because it wasn't like he could say that he saw something unappealing or anything of the sort.

Because that was not totally the case… it was quite the opposite.

_Really_ opposite.

What he had seen back there was actually good, more than good, actually better than good… ok, scratch all that, what he saw back in The Pack was _amazing_.

_Seriously_.

The mental shock he was trying to deal with was for something else. And _no_, he was definitely not a prude… ok, maybe a little bit old fashioned, but that's beside the point.

But yeah, it was _really_ good what he saw.

And that inner corner of his brain, that sounded just as smugly as his uncle (and also sounded with the same voice as his uncle, as if having to deal with the real one since he can remember wasn't annoying enough), agreed with him in his opinion; however, the other half of his brain was writhing almost in pain, trying to reach him with the last bit of rationality and sanity and decency that his mind claimed to have.

_That's_ what was confusing him the most.

It's not like this was Derek's first visit to a nightclub or strip club or any kind of club for that matter, and unfortunately Peter was the one to thank for that. It wasn't also like he hadn't seen stripers making erotic moves and enticing dances while being on stage in front of lots of people before… or an private room against the rational and decent part of your soul for that matter (again, thanks Peter). He also couldn't say that it wasn't like it he hadn't seen naked bodies before (either man or woman), so he was no stranger to the aesthetics of the human body. Hell, he even wasn't against kinks, because being honest, who doesn't have a kink? Even if it's just a harmless one… and thank fuck his were, at the very least, somewhat innocent ("Listen all you need is the right moisturizing lube and a steady-" "Jesus Christ, Peter! No! Just- No!").

For crying out loud! He was already a full grown man in his late twenties (who had just recently turned twenty eight, do not forget that) who had experienced the pleasure of adult life in all ways… okay, correction, a man who had explored the pleasures of adult life in all the _decent _ways, thank you very much.

Bottom line, he was not a virgin, okay?

_'Then why so twitchy about what you saw?'_ asked that smugly inner voice he hated so much.

But it did _have_ a good point. Why was he like this?

Thus, Derek had to relive recent events for a third fucking time.

While sitting alone in the booth he kept occasionally sipping at his drink while waiting for the grand show that he had heard about from both Marc and Matt, not really getting what was all the fuss about a simple striper. Regardless he had already mentally told himself that he would follow Peter's advice (_'Oh my god, I just hope I don't get to regret this'_) and enjoy the rest of the night, not caring to follow any kind of reasoning that his brain kept trying to put into him. He would not be Derek Hale, he would just be Derek.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when the lights around the place started dimming and a single spot light was illuminating the stage, at the cue every person in the hall went completely silent and the seats started to fill. _'Wow, so he's that good to get this reaction?'_ thought the raven haired man as he took another sip and sat up straight to glance the stage.

As he took yet another sip of his blue bright drink the announcer started to speak.

"Everybody! Welcome once again to this, your humble house and refuge! The den where you can enjoy yourselves to your heart's content!" Derek just had to snort at that, because of what he saw so far he just couldn't disagree with that.

"As always we open the night with a special show just for the members of The Pack." the whole audience started to cheer and clap. The Hale boy' eyebrows rose, it seemed that every night people were expecting this show.

"He has many names among you folks," some whistles started to sound making echo, "Some of you call him the pale Wonder boy, other address him as the white silk artist, and many call him the Milky Way walker." By the tone the guy used with that last nickname Derek understood why his uncle was so keen in getting to know this place, so many innuendos that he couldn't really care to count them anymore.

"So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, here is the Human-constellation-chart" (_'What the fuck?'_) "and pride of The Pack. I present to you. SPARK!"

As soon as the big black curtain in the back of the stage flung open, every other thought Derek was having in regards to that last and weird-as-fuck nickname was quickly toss aside. His muscles tensed at the very sight he had before him, the hand holding the highball glass tightened its grip. The pale green eyes he had, like the aiming system of a high-tech weapon, made a full lock on to the person over the stage, or maybe not so much of an older guy as he had thought at first. _Seriously_. By the body's complexion and the thin frame Derek could've swore that the guy dancing was underage and being forced against his will, probably some poor kid who got stuck in this kind of world, maybe his parents had neglected him and was taken in by the club or maybe he had been sold to pay a debt…_ no_, it was not the time to let stupid deductions and weird novel-style plots wander into his mind. Not only because of how ridiculous they sounded but also because his mind was again distracted as the 'boy' (he looked young so he was going to stick with that) passed right beside him.

As the music kept sounding and increasing its beat the boy's body began to twirl and twist back and forth through the entire stage, occasionally using the poles he had at his disposal to make gymnastic-level moves. The tight white suit he was wearing seemed to stretch like a second layer of skin over his lean muscles, at every twist he could see shadows being casted over his body and the playful lights danced over these making enticing figures of various colors. His eyes diverted every now and then to the holes in the suit, revealing patches of pale-white skin that looked far more silkier and smoother than anything he had ever seen in this world. Was this kid even _real_? The way his muscles kept trying to jump out of the suit made him look so surreal. Those firm looking thighs, that long and desirable back, the lean and pounding chest, the slim and graspable shoulders, those big and kissable lips…

_'Okay, no. What the hell?!'_ he berated himself.

Derek was feeling completely lost in this show, but before he could even chain a straight line of ideas his thoughts were once again trapped by the kid.

The music had suddenly changed from its normal rhythm to a calmer beat, like setting a relaxing mood into the crowd. When his eyes darted towards the stage, frantically looking for the boy, he let out a muted yelp when he found the boy standing right before him. Since the booth he was sitting in was slightly positioned on the right of the front side of the stage, there was not really any place for being surprised. But Derek _was_, he was _really_ surprised, he was taken aback… actually scratch all that, because there were really no words to describe how he was feeling, and it wasn't also like he had any sanity at the moment to even form a coherent thought. When his brain finally registered what his eyes were seeing that was it, his entire being short circuited. a pair of hazel green eyes grew wider as his mind finally understood what the announcer had meant by 'Human-constellation-chart.' He could swear that his heart had practically stopped at the very sight before him, because his eyes were now glancing an uncharted constellation of moles spread across an infinite white-silk firmament of skin twisting and stretching in the leanest and the firmest body he had ever seen.

Recovering a little bit from the short circuit Derek finally registered that the stripper was now a few clothes away from total nudity, his only free hand that he had decided to keep pinned on the table started to make grabbing gestures. That last rational part of his mind was clearly registering his actions as inadequate, but his body had stopped listening a long time ago. Spark's primordial zone (shut up, that's how he had decided to call it) was now covered by a pair of black-ass-tight-glittering boxer briefs that were, as well as the previous white suit, defining the last hidden muscles. The curvature of a tight ass casted new enticing shadows over the pale thighs, and the ever stretching lean muscles now were visible over those equally pale long and mouth-watering legs that made contrast with those black boot hiding the last tensing muscles that were lost under the calf. When the boy gave his back to the audience Derek was mentally tracing every line he could see; from the lines that seemed to form a downwards-pointing arrow in the small of the back as well as the ascending lines that rose from the sides of his narrow waist, ending in the formation of those the shoulder blades snuggling the silky pale skin. The last lines that rose to the back of the pure white neck did not go unnoticed.

_'Seriously! What the hell is wrong with this kid?!'_ his mind kept screaming.

Once more Derek failed in his inner attempt to make any decent thoughts when eyes were left stranded yet again at another detail from the kid. The mask. His eyes started to widen at the sight of that wolf-like mask. It was almost _exactly_ the same as his, only being different in the designs over the face and the switch of the fur's colors. Where Derek's wolf was black with a line of white in the center, Spark's was white with black in the middle. The young Hale's mind was refrained from going anywhere beyond the mere fact that they were both wearing _possibly_ matching masks. _No_, he had to keep telling himself that it meant nothing at all.

Derek's brain was thrown into another loop when the slow inviting music suddenly changed the rhythm again to a fast paced one, making Spark to bolt yet again into another set of moves. His body, now mostly uncovered, was yet again casting new shades over every visible corner of the white pale skin; the last show of shades and lights over the forgotten white suit seemed now like a lame preview of the real show. The raven haired man was now lost in the hands that were hovering just above every patch of skin, the long slim fingers of the stripper seemed to wriggle back and forth as if they were tracing invisible lines that were connecting the dots over the pale layer of his body. How many people desired to be tracing those lines as well? Derek suddenly felt a rush of anger when he thought about the answer. Luckily his anger was forgotten when Spark jumped into one of the poles. The boy was keeping a hard grip on the pole with both hands, fingers firmly attached to the metal object. At first Derek didn't really know what to make of the scene before him, especially not when he saw a long leg rising to tense around the pole. _'Oh… my… god...'_ his mind said when the firm grip started to loosen up as the leg tensed even more. Once the grip of his finger was lost, with a little bit of impulse and with the help of gravity, Spark's body started to circle the pole slowly sliding down as the leg around it kept making friction with the metal surface. It was like being in a constellation observatory how, only that instead of watching said constellations from the inside these were now rolling in front of his eyes, embodied on the slim boy right before him. Like watching a globe map spinning in front of you… only the map was a human body, a body full of stars.

When the music's beat kept accelerating Derek knew that the show was about to end, his insides feeling a bit disappointed for perceiving the finale of the boy's performance; however, any other thought that he could or did want to give into the matter was toss outside the window of his head when the last beats made a resounding clash and the stripper ended his number with a crawling position on the floor in the front side of the stage with all three spotlights shining down on him. He was marveled at the sight before him, the boy in a crawling position… a _very_ enticing position, mind you. Spark's chest was going up and down at an alarming rate, almost as if his heart was about to jump out it. His muscles twitched in protest, they were most likely overexerted from all the movements the kid had done. His entire body was covered in a glowing layer of sweat, drops of it hitting the stage as they dripped from several points of the slim and firm body. His lips open and panting, trying to fill his lungs with the air he so needed (_'Probably some help with getting air into his lungs would be good' _said that smugly voice). Finally he saw the kid's eyes looking at his audience… only to be locked into his one second later.

Time stopped.

They were the most beautiful brown eyes he had ever seen in his entire life.

Two pools of melted chocolate, probably of the most delicious kind.

The nurturing brown that gave life to the nature he loved so much.

A brown that, in an instant, had been tattooed with fire into his mind.

After that Derek couldn't really recall but a few things: like immediately leaving once his brain registered Spark's absence from the stage, bumping into a few people on his way out, finding Matt at the entrance, the boy asking him for a phone number and oddly enough Derek agreeing to give him one, reaching for the Camaro totally forgetting about Peter (not the first time he did that kind of pay back on his uncle by leaving him stranded, nor that the the older Hale cared so much about it), parking in the Hale Manor's drive way, and finally slumping face down on his bed trying to register recent events. He remembers side glancing the clock of the nightstand just before he had face planted in the bed, it was around two o'clock when he arrived. Which means he had spent the last three hours thinking, _still_ trying to figure out just what the hell happened.

He felt deadbeat, so fucking tired that his brain was failing to form any more ideas.

"Spark..."

With that last whisper coming from the memory of those brown chocolate eyes, Derek finally surrendered into slumber.

Tomorrow would be a perfect day to freak out more comfortably.

Fuck.

* * *

Ten o'clock in the morning.

That's what the clock perched atop the wall said when breakfast was served at the Hale's table, half of the family members missing. Peter, sitting on the right seat on the table's far end, was reading the newspaper while drinking his usual black coffee, occasionally lingering in whatever page he was reading to take a discreet look around the table. Laura was seated right across her uncle, happily munching on her Sunday-custom pancake dish drown in fresh maple syrup. Both of them dressed in what they usually call 'Sunday clothing': Peter in a large crimson satin robe with matching pajama bottoms and slippers; Laura was wearing her clear light-gray nightgown together with a filmy gray robe, displaying her smooth shoulders and arms, with her legs elegantly crossed and one of her gray fluffy slippers hanging from the floating foot she held up.

"Where's Cora?" the older Hale said suddenly.

"Probably sulking in her room." she said shrugging.

"Sulking?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Because of Derek's Camaro." she answered before shoving more pancakes into her mouth.

"Oh yeah," he said in recognition, "I completely forgot about that. I swear, that kid just never learns, does she?" he returned his eyes to his newspaper.

"She's persistent, I give her that much." Laura said after gulping down some milk.

"And where's your mother?" he asked looking around. "She usually threatens me with maiming for not attending family breakfasts, so one would think that she never misses these get-togethers." He started smirking, because it was quite rare the chances he could get stab Talia's back with her own words. Even if that meant an even more castrating moment for him later on his sister's account… Hale-brotherly-love.

"She went out early today, not sure why." Laura's tone was starting to sound a bit annoyed. It was a well known fact that Laura Hale did not tolerate anything that distracted her from her breakfast… or anytime whenever she was eating something for that matter.

"Just hope everything is okay." he returned to read again, hearing an accepting growl from Laura to his statement.

The older Hale continued side-glancing his niece as she shoved down the last remnants of her pancakes. Once he saw that the Hale girl was starting to drink from her glass of milk, Peter decided that it was safe to make more conversation without the risk of dismemberment.

"Do you know at what time did Derek return?" he said without putting away the newspaper. He decided against meeting a possible glare for interrupting 'Milk-drinking-time.'

Laura finished her last gulp of milk before answering. "Around two o'clock." When she didn't hear his uncle say anything she lifted her eyes, meeting a pointed look Peter that was clearly saying 'And how do you know that?' she added. "It was still talking on the phone when I heard his Camaro pulling into the driveway."

"Oh, I see." Laura did not like at all the tone he used, especially when she saw how the older man folded his newspaper putting it aside to give his full attention to her. "And, by the way, just _who_ were you talking to?" he said smirking while he leaned over the table with his elbows, weaving his finger together and placing his chin on them.

Laura merely give him a blank stare, it was the Hale-language equivalent of 'It's none of your damn business, now fucking leave it at that.'

Just before Peter could think of a snarky comeback Derek stepped into the dining hall.

"G'morning." his voice sounded lazy and hoarse.

When both Laura and Peter their eyebrows almost disappeared into their hairlines.

"Oh my god, did just kill your way out of a prison compound? You look _terrible_!" Laura asked almost in a dramatic tone.

Derek was still dressed in the clothes he had wore yesterday when Peter took him to The Pack: pitch black jeans that almost looked like slacks which had wrinkles all over: a light gray button up shirt with its sleeves carelessly folded around the elbows and the collar all turn outside with on, the lower part of the cloth had been lazily tugged into the pants; a gray buckle belt loosely hanging around his waist and half of it hiding under the half-tugged button up: and he was barefoot since the boots he had yesterday had been tossed at some place of his bedroom.

"Wild night huh my nephew?" Peter asked smirking.

"Shaddap." he slurred unable to make a decent pronunciation and taking seat in the table, burying his head between his arms muffling a groan.

"Seriously though, baby bro, what the hell happened to you?" she crossed her arms raising an eyebrow.

Peter on the other hand leaned over the table, laying his chin on his hand. "I heard you came back at two o'clock in the morning. How did it go back there?"

"Back where?" Laura asked all confused, alternating glances between Derek and Peter.

"What about you Peter?" Laura frowned when Derek asked Peter while ignoring her. She was starting to feel really pissed about being left out.

Peter smirked gathering his thoughts, taking a deep breath before giving an answer. "Well," he began deciding to sit up straight, "Let's just say that I made new _friends_, who were kind enough to give a ride back home." He finished making a big smile.

"Why does that not surprise me?" groaned Derek again from under his arms.

"Well, my dear nephew, it's just obvious when you're this good looking." he said gesturing himself.

"It's even more obvious when you drunk your victims." Derek replied. Laura had to chuckle at that one.

"You defamation is something serious, you know Dery-boy?" he said in a dramatic tone.

"Drunk people have a hard time telling the difference between a friendly normal person and a suspicious friendly old pervert." Laura was now slapping both hands over her mouth, trying to choke down her laughter by ducking her head between her legs. Her shoulders were shaking. Derek was just groaning.

"You would be surprised to know how many people actually like my company." he crossed his arms unfazed by his nephew's words and then added pointing a finger at Derek. "Also, how many times do I have to tell before you remember it, I'm _not_ old."

"Ok, that's it." said in louder tone the older Hale sibling after finally being able to get over her previous laughter, glancing between both Hale men. "Since I don't have _any _clue as to what the hell are you two talking about, and clearly you're _not_ gonna let me in into the topic, I will excuse myself." she stood up pacing around the table towards Peter.

"In that case, have a nice and beautiful day, my lovely niece." he tilted his head to allow Laura to kiss his cheek.

"Will do Peter." after that she paced to Derek. "Seriously though, baby bro, you do look like you're about to die." she said gently patting his shoulder.

"Fuck off Laura."

She giggled. "I love you too baby bro." She leaned kissing his head. "But _seriously_, go take a bath. You reek like a plastered dead." And with that Laura was gone.

Peter waited for his niece's footsteps to fade in the second floor. "So," he said slowly, '"How was the party?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Why? Did something bad happen?"

"I just don't want to."

Again he waited a few second before keeping on. "You know," he started, "The guys I was with told me about this stripper boy, Spark." As soon as he saw Derek's body slightly twitching at the name Peter smirked. "Didn't get the chance to see him perform though, a _real_ shame." he made another smirk when he saw his nephew's shoulder relax a bit. "Did _you_ get the chance to see this famous kid?"

The younger Hale's silence was all he needed.

"I was thinking about going again, _tonight_." he remarked that words, swearing he saw Derek's ears perking up. "I heard Spark gives private sessions only on Sundays." Yet another evil smirk smeared Peter's face when he saw the young boy tensing again. _'Could it be…?'_ "Actually, my dear Dery-boy, taking advice from my new friends I went and made a reservation for a private session with Spark." Peter swore that _this_ time he clearly saw his nephew shiver. _'Did he just…?'_ "But I just wanna make sure so tell me Dery-boy, how does this _Spark_ looks like?"

Again Derek didn't answer.

_'Oh. My. God.'_ the older Hale was _really_ enjoying this. But before Peter could continue torturing his nephew his phone went off. As he answered not really caring he wasn't alone Derek tilted his head allowing one eye to perk up from under his arms, he was side glancing his uncle.

"Ah! Nice to hear from you my dear friend." Peter answered all smiley and waited to be greeted by the other person.

"I am most certainly not." Derek's eyebrow rose up in suspicion a both the statement and the fucking weird courteous tone in his uncle's voice.

"Yes, I know." the older Hale nodded, remaining silent while hearing the voice on the other side of the line.

"Actually it was great success if you ask me." Derek was trying to make sense of his uncle's phrases; something inside of him was telling him that Peter was doing this on purpose.

This time Peter went silent, making Derek remain still and almost holding a breath as he waited for his uncle to say something or at least make a reaction.

The older Hale let out a sigh. "I see." He said in a low solemn voice.

"Don't worry. I'll see what I can do about it. Bye" Derek started to sit up straight but stopped as he saw his uncle furiously typing in his cell phone. Peter remained seated as he kept typing with no end in sight, looking very focused on whatever text he was about to send.

For a few minutes Derek simply stared at the older man, hoping that his uncle would explain himself. Just when he was about to give up hope of any kind of reaction Peter stood up, quickly pacing out of the room.

"Something wrong?" the younger Hale asked, a worrying face crossing his face.

Peter stopped right at the entrance of the dining hall, hand rummaging the left pocket of his robe. "You're on a very lucky streak, Dery-boy." he said half turning his body around, only to toss something over the table.

"What are you-?" His half-processed thoughts came to a halt when said tossed object landed near his body which was now half-leaned on the table. Right beside Derek was the ID card that both he and Peter had received back at the club, the exclusive member card that could only be used inside The Pack.

"The reservation was made under that card's ID, so I suppose it will _only_ accept that one." he winked at the younger Hale. "Just make sure to share _all_ of the dirty details." he started exiting the room. "Hope you have _fun_, Dery-boy." He heard nothing but the sound of Peter's footsteps for a few seconds. "You don't need to worry about going to work tomorrow by the way, you can thank me later for that one." Came the older man's voice in a shout from the staircase.

Once his uncle's footsteps faded Derek finally remembered how to breath, his brain trying to recall the events from the last minute and frantically trying to process how things ended up as they were now. His uncle had just set him up with Spark, _the_ Spark, the one and only stripper of The Pack who had blown off his mind just by watching him dance… in a stage... in front of lots of people… and _now_ they were going to be alone. Was all this for real? As Derek kept glancing over and over at the ID card his uncle had left him behind, he found himself less and less able to deny all of this.

Now he had another chance to see him… privately… just the two of them... alone…

_'Privately… Alone… Just the two of you… You'll have him all to yourself...'_ the smugly voice inside his brain that sounded like his uncle started to tease him as always.

He was going to be alone… with _Spark_.

Fuck.

Again.

* * *

"Whadda you mean Bennett quit?!" Stiles screamed to his phone, mouth half-full with the chilly hot dog he just made.

"Well it means what it means, Stiles." Danny's voice said on the other side of the line. "Usually when a person _quits_ his or her job it means that person will _not_ be working in the same thing again." The Hawaiian boy chuckled.

Stiles glared at his phone, as if that would make the tanned boy on the line feel his anger for treating him like an idiot.

"Anyway_,_" Danny kept talking, "I called you to give you a heads up for next Monday, that's when the new kid will be starting." Stiles mentally groaned at that, because if this was for real then next Monday was gonna turn out into a very heavy day, especially with the new helper.

Stiles groaned, running a hand across his face but anyway felt grateful for the heads up. "Okay, thanks Danny. Better this than not having anyone at all, and I can start thinking about how to train the new pupil."

"Knowing _you_ I thought as much." Danny chuckled.

"_Anyway,_" Stiles remarked his words, "I'm thankful for this." Stiles finished his chilly hot dog. "(What are you doing by the way?)" He asked with his mouth half-full, not really thinking that his words were only understandable to him.

"Stiles… would you please first swallow whatever you're eating?" said the other boy with an annoyed tone.

The scrawny chuckled and then swallowed. "Sorry about that." he said immediately, not really meaning it. "I asked 'What are you doing?'"

"I am trying to get back to my study session," Stiles frowned and Danny added, "I was studying for my test on next Monday when Heather called me and gave the heads up about the new kid."

"Oh! I see, so it was her who knew first." Stiles snorted.

"Of course she knew since she's the one in charge of recruiting after all." his tone sounded with an obvious tone.

Stiles rolled his eyes. "_Anyways_, Monday will be his first day right?"

"Uh huh, and you better act professional and _train_, not just goof around, you hear me?"

Stiles gaped, staring at his phone again. "I _can_ be professional."

The Hawaiian snorted. "Like when Bennett joined us?"

"Hey! That one was for a good reason."

"Other than you giving into his flirt attempts? Cause I don't think there was." He heard Stiles choking and Danny smirked all smugly.

"I-I did _not_." He was sure the other boy started laughing because he stuttered a little. "Stop laughing you dick!" Since Danny didn't show any sign of stopping anytime soon Stiles added, "Well at least all we did was just some harmless flirting, instead of trying to suck out our faces in the backroom." Stiles made a fist-pump when he heard the other boy choking, muttering a _'yes'_.

"_Stiles!_ What the hell?!" Danny managed to say as soon as he recovered.

"You started it dude." he heard the other boy clearing his throat.

"Okay, okay, geez. Anyway I better get back to my study session, ok?" Danny said hastily.

"Sure thing Danny-boy. See ya tomorrow." he answered smirking.

"See ya." and with that the line went off.

Stiles left his plate on the table and went straight to his bed, ungracefully plummeting down on the mattress while letting his bare feet dangling on the edge. It was not like wanted to intrude in Danny's study session, god knows he always tried not to get in the way when his friends were doing important things, but he _really_ didn't wanted to be alone with his thoughts… he wasn't ready to face them yet. That is why he had purposely been keeping himself busy for as much as he could since he woke up in the afternoon, desperately trying to not let any of yesterday's events to be recall by his mind.

Too bad his mind had to be just as _fucking_ stubborn as him.

His memory began to recall last night.

After the initial shock of meeting those green eyes Spark wasn't sure he would be able to flinch even if his life depended on it, his brain had tried to make him react for several seconds but his body was just not answering. Finally it was the chorus of cheers and shouts that snapped him back into reality, giving him the strength he needed to tear away his eyes from those green pools of pure nature. He stood up using all of his will to not look again into the man with green eyes, but as the crowd acclaimed him he did a bow of gratitude and this time his eyes could evade the green ones.

This time Spark took in the whole aspect of the man before him: he was probably a bit more tall than him and few years older as well, it couldn't be much though; the guy had broad shoulders hidden under a black suede blazer, the arm muscles were almost trying to rip the cloth apart; a light gray button up shirt stretched over pecs and abs that looked hard as steel; pitch black jeans tightly snuggled against a pair of incredible worked legs; and a dark-gray buckle belt firmly gripping that amazing waist. Yeah, that man was fucking mouth-watering.

Slightly shaking his head Spark finally got a hold of himself and started walking backwards, occasionally bowing down to his audience and waving his hand. As soon as his feet made it behind the back limit of the stage the curtain began to close, and just as the curtains was about to completely conceal him from the crowd's view his eyes darted once more for those green eyes. His mind was thrown into another shock when he finally took notice of the man's mask: a wolf-like design with black fur and a white line of fur in the center, the inverted version of his mask. As the curtain finally closed off the loud sound of cheering together with all the whistling drowned the sound of him falling spectacularly on his ass as he tripped over a couple of wires.

As soon as his mind was finally back on full operation (fuck Jackson and his jokes about a few loose wires) he made a quick walk back to his dressing room, shutting off the door and hitting the shower right away. He needed something to cool off his mind, cold water was one of the few things that helped him to place his thoughts back in place. Good thing that nobody thought that his fall was odd, since the first day he started working in The Pack his flailing and hyperactive mind made it clear that he was quite prone to fall on his ass almost always after a dance. So it was safe to say that nobody would go to ask him about that fall he had.

When the time to make his second act came around Spark felt nervous about the fact that probably the guy with the wolf mask and the green eyes was still out there waiting to see him dance again, and he felt confused by that thought. But since the show had to continue Spark had no choice but to push his thoughts into a corner and go on, good thing he had a lot of experience in ignoring whatever fuss his brain tried to deal with. As soon as he hit the stage, ready to give his second show, his eyes immediately darted to the booth in the right side of the front of the stage; however, he did not expect to find said booth completely empty. The felling of his stomach dropping was also quickly ignored as his brain told him to keep on with the show.

The rest of the night went without problems.

As soon as he returned to his apartment he face planted his bed, he felt so tired that his mind didn't have the strength to remind him recent events (And thank fuck for that one). Even when he woke up in the afternoon he tried to keep his mind from remembering by busying himself with whatever trivial task he could do at the moment, hoping he could keep himself occupied until night when he had to return to The Pack.

Of course, he had no such luck and so now he was in his bed, lying on his back and staring at the ceiling while remembering those deep green eyes. His mind kept circling around the same question over and over again.

Was he going to see those green eyes again?

He found himself hoping _not_ to, but at the same his stomach dropped at that thought. Odds were usually high at the option that things didn't happen twice, but his luck usually proved him wrong whenever he least need it.

'_Does that mean I'm going to see him again?'_

He hid his face behind his hands when the question popped in his mind, he was used to life always trying to piss him off. So considering what _his_ life was chances were pretty high.

Damn it.

* * *

Chris was measuring the situation.

His fingers were weaved in a comfy pillow for his chin to rest, while his elbows supported all of his weight as he leaned over his oak desk. His eyes were intensively fixed on the wall, his mind of course didn't give a crap about the withered cream colored paint he had used on it (Allison had said that his sense of style was as colorful and lively as a mausoleum office and Lydia nodded in agreement). What really was keeping him worry (well not exactly worry as much as making him thoughtful) was the little text message brightly displayed on his phone's screen that was resting over the desk.

**From '530-729-1486':** _Looked into what you said, you were right, the records are gone. Also to update you about him, he's actually doing better than expected. Still we'll have to go carefully._

He was really happy to receive good news for a change, it was certainly something that at the very least said that not everything was turning into shit; but he was also concerned about what had happened to those records since it was the only lead they had to-

"Dad?" Chris shook his head when Allison's voice breached through the cloud of thoughts he was immersed in. When he came around he noticed the girl standing in front of him on the other side of the desk.

"Allison," the man berated himself for the weak answer. "Sorry honey," he paused rubbing his face with both hands, "I didn't hear you coming in, something wrong?" He resumed his previous position , his eyes now fixed on his daughter.

"_I_ should be asking _you_ the same thing," she paused walking around the desk and kneeling beside the man, "You okay, dad?" her eyes fixed on him with worry pouring out of her pupils.

Chris took a deep breath as he looked at Allison right in the eye, feeling guilty for making her worry about him. "Yeah honey, I'm okay." he smiled at her.

"By the way you were frowning you didn't really look that okay to me." she gave him a significant look, tilting her head to the side.

Feeling inwardly alarmed when he noticed that his phone was still displaying that text message, he quickly grabbed the thing as he hugged the girl, thanking the heavens that she was more focused on him. "It nothing you should worry about honey, just business stuff." he said breaking the hug.

Allison shook her head. "You _do_ know that every time you say 'Don't worry' _that_ makes me worry even more, right?" She patted his leg. "Remember that we said that we would face anything together," she gave him a significant look, "So don't try to take all the burden alone, you know I'm always here."

Any other time Chris would've felt really proud of her daughter's strong heart and spirit, not to mention her sharpness as well… but he also knew that this wasn't something he wished for Allison to get involved with. "It's a little problem with a customer," the girl's nodded slightly in acknowledgement being that the cue for him to continue, "I was just trying to come up with the reason for that problem, but I think I just started over thinking it."

"Are you sure that's _all_?" she eyed him carefully.

For a moment Chris thought that this was how it felt for both Allison and Scott (or mostly for Scott) whenever he tried to catch up on both teen's lies. "It's just that he's one of my regulars, so..."

"Ah," she said smiling and catching the point Chris tried to make or more like fake, "Yes, how to forget your 'Customer service' policy, right?"

"You know it makes wonders for _any_ kind of business, honey." He smiled.

"Well, if you insist." she stood up and walked away stopping by the exit. "Anyway, I came to see if you wanted anything special for dinner. I was thinking about making s'mores."

"Need the extra sugar rush for another texting session?" he smirked knowing he had made a bull's eye when Allison blushed furiously.

"_Dad_" she whined.

"It's okay honey, I understand." He stood up as well and walked around the desk to lean on the front side while crossing his arms. "You guys just need a little boost to keep it up all night." He smirked.

"_Dad! Oh my god!_" Allison got even redder as she tried to hide her face behind her hands, shaking her head in disbelief. "I can't believe I'm hearing _this_ from _you_."

"There's nothing to feel ashamed off." he shrugged like it was no big deal. "It's just natural for young people to try to keep their minds and bodies ready for a _long_ night." smirking when he saw Allison squirming even more.

Allison on the other hand just kept shaking her head and groaning as her hand muffled several phrases as _oh my god_ or _stop it please_ and also few of _this can't be happening to me_.

Chris smirked again before pressing a little bit more. "Come on Allison," he said slowly pacing towards the girl and draping an arm around her shoulders when he was by her side. Allison stopped ranting behind her hands to eye him carefully, "It's completely normal that you and Scott, as a couple, like to keep each other up at night."

This time Allison felt like being suddenly swallowed by the ground wasn't so bad, her whining made it very clear.

"You know," continued Chris smirking yet again when the girl continued making muffled incomprehensible words to her hands, "You two remind me of when your mother and I were young." The room was filled with muffled groan of 'Ugh' from Allison. "Actually there was this one time when we-"

"Okay that's it!" she said out loud storming out of the office. Chris was trying to contain the laughter as he heard his daughter walking away while saying things like _oh my god_ or _I can't believe you just said that to me_ and also _my ears are bleeding_, his shoulder were shaking violently. "Your dinner will be nothing but a bowl of plain boring wheat cereal!" Her shout came from the kitchen.

Chris counted that last one as job _really_ well done.

As he kept smiling his mind kept telling him how it was more and more imperative to protect her, whatever it was needed he would continue to protect Allison to the very end. She was all the family he had left… the _only_ family left that was worth living for and protecting at _any_ cost.

_That_ was for sure.

* * *

"I should leave." said Derek.

He was sitting in a cushy black-felt love chair in the middle of one of the private rooms of The Pack, trying to fight off the big freak out that was trying to set by starting to fidget uncomfortably while twiddling his thumbs. The room was of a comfortable size to be able to contain four seats like the one he was occupying, three coffee tables in between the seats, and several big blocks (probably made of wood or something) coated in several paint colors that just lied across the room. He still couldn't believe he was there, in that room (which was starting to feel incredibly cramped with every passing second by the way) while he waited his private _session_ with Spark to begin. His body squirmed again.

God, even mentally uttering that boy's name made his bowels twist with a mix of anxiety and excitement… he also felt like throwing up.

That night, following his uncle's invitation to attend the already scheduled appointment, Derek decided (against the better judgment of the rational part of his brain) to go to The Pack and meet with the stripper boy once again. Needless to say that the young Hale was so thrilled by the idea and yet at the same time so fucking terrified that he spent almost a good portion of the night playing hot potato with his room's doorknob, feeling like his hand burned whenever his hand reached for it in order to open his door. Finally allowing the less coherent side of his brain (probably the one side that had been most affected by living together with Peter for so many years) to win the argument, Derek was on his way to The Pack when his wristwatch signaled with a beep that it was already midnight. Still nothing was helping him with the fucking knot of nervousness that was his stomach, which why on his way here, for the first time Derek had driven the Camaro with the lowest speed limit allowed. It wasn't long after he drove out of the Hale Manor that he was now parking, oddly enough, in the same parking space he had used last night he came with his uncle. Before climbing down from the Camaro Derek's hand, without much of an order from his owner, reached for the glove compartment pulling out the wolf-designed mask he had wore yesterday. _'Maybe this will make him recognize me'_ his mind said but he mentally told himself to shut up, he forced himself to forget that stupid sense of hope in his chest.

Either way Derek decided to put the mask on.

Stepping through the entrance Derek felt quite surprised to find Matt in there; the young boy had recognized him immediately. After confirming the reservation with Peter's ID card (Not that anybody need to know that) Matt led Derek to the last room available for the scheduled private session, during their walk the boy was giving him all the instructions he needed to know about a private session... actually it was more like the only rule to follow during a private session: the performer set the rules. Just that.

_´Reasonable enough.´ _Thought Derek. After all it he were the one to give a show for other people then it was only natural that the rules would be there to make him feel more comfortable with the situation.

When the finally arrived at the designated place Derek, who was still pondering if all of this was a good idea by standing still at the entrance of the room, was practically being shoved inside of the room by a giggling Matt that was telling him he was _incredibly_ lucky to get a reservation with Spark on a really short notice. As the door closed behind him he felt like he had been thrown into a lion cage, which caused Derek to stand motionless for at least ten minutes.

That's how the young Hale ended where he is now.

So as he kept rolling his thumbs around one another, his tendency to over think things started to freak him out. 'This was definitely a bad idea' he thought to himself. So just as he was standing up to leave the room and building up the confidence to leave the place without looking back (Also ignoring the fact that he would probably berate himself later for being a massive coward) the doorknoob turned and the door started to open slowly, Derek remained frozen in his seat. It took about ten holy-motherfucker-long seconds for the door to be fully opened, allowing the young Hale to have a full sight of that enticing and lean and delicious.. _'Ok stop it!'_ he mentally screamed to himself shaking his head. The sound of the door being closed forced him to focus on the ongoing moment.

He took a moment to take in the boy's appearance. Spark was wearing a new kind of 'stripper-attire.' Yeah it was kind of weird to say it like that now that he was remembering what the boy had wore when he saw him yesterday, but then again Derek didn't know if there was even a correct term for it, so fuck it. Spark was wearing a dark and thin sleeveless hoodie stretching around his slim torso, which was allowing the boy to flash people the silk looking skin of his lean yet firm looking arms. He had worn out jeans that were tightly clinging to his long legs, and the way the pants were clutching around his thighs Derek wondered just how snugly the pants looked on the swell of the boy's ass. The black buckle belt from yesterday was once again comfortably sitting around his waist, matching the black hiker boots. Al combined together with a plain black handkerchief covering his hair and the same wolf-like mask.

His heart skipped a beat when he realized that Spark was eyeing him as well, two more beats were skipped when Spark' lips tugged up into a faint smile. Good thing Derek was a master on the art of "Unfazed Appearance," god knows how much time he had to practice this art while living with his family… especially Peter. That being said and all, he still couldn't control his body from quivering a bit when Spark started slowly pacing towards him, his faint smile turning into a wider smirk with every step. By the time Derek's brain was back online and registering the whole situation, Spark was already leaning into his personal space.

"Well, well, If isn't Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Wolfy." the kid whispered in a low-seductive-tone grinning and hovering his body over Derek's without ever touching.

The young Hale's breath hitched yet his impassive facade remained, god knows why, so he simply smiles before answering. "Hey there Small-slim-puppy." _'Seriously, Derek?! I thought you had better wits for comebacks'_ said the smugly voice in his brain.

For a split second Spark's smile faded and returned even wider and more devilish. "Puppy, huh? Good to know you at least remember me."

"More like hard to forget." The words, which had come out on their own, were like a mental slap for him. It was official, this fucking enticing kid with his shit-eating-but-also-dazing smile was pushing him to the very edge of his self control.

The boy gave him a significant look without losing the smile. "Does that mean you been thinking about me?"

Fuck.

Stupid brain that sometimes ignored the mental walls of decency and proper behavior, it was like a disease that only activated every once in awhile and messed up with his mind whenever he spoke. Since some time ago he had named it the "Evil Hale Gene Disease," it was a truly evil congenital disease which affected the Hale family by destroying that part of the brain that saved you from saying things that were either stupid, depraved, asinine, embarrassing, or unsettling. Derek had figured it was affecting Laura, Cora and Peter… actually scratch that last one, Peter was probably the embodiment of this evil disease since he had no boundaries whatsoever to the things that came out of his mouth. Yeah, that had to be.

"Looks like the Big Bad Wolf lost its tongue." the low voice of Spark whispering close to his ear snapped him back to reality.

Derek saw the grin in the boy's face. "Actually, it's preparing for some action." Again Derek keep the surprise of his own words for his inner self. _'What the hell was that?!'_ He seriously needed to shorten his coexisting times with his uncle.

He saw the striper grin widely again. "Eager aren't we?" he said in a lustful tone and licking his lower lip. By the way, Derek did definitely _not_ thought about trapping that pink tongue with his teeth. _Seriously_.

"I'm just waiting like a good customer." he answered in a very husky tone. _'Stupid mouth. Stop that!'_ His rational side screamed.

Spark stepped back a bit carefully eyeing the man, Derek remained unfazed as he saw those calculating chocolate eyes (and also a little disappointed when the boy stepped back, but not that anyone needed to know). The boy grinned again before pushing into his personal space once again, careful of not making body contact and just bringing his lips close to Derek's ear. "Then I guess I must oblige. Otherwise the Big Bad Alpha is gonna be mad at me."

Having said that Spark stepped back and climbed onto one of the blocks with his back to Derek, the young Hale man could see the kid evening his breathing. He remained expectant, shifting a bit in his place to get more comfy. His heart stopped when the kid made a sudden turn to end up facing him. Those brown deep chocolate eyes were looking at him intensely. Suddenly the fancy calm music beating in the room, which Derek didn't notice until that very moment because he was too busy first freaking out and the allowing his brain to shamelessly flirt, changed into a more fast paced tune.

Spark started to dance.

It was the most incredible thing Derek had experienced so far in life.

As the music started the boy also began to slowly sway into the beat, by swinging his hips from left to right in accordance with the tempo while starting to swing his arms with the same rhythm. The boy went first by doing his swings and sways without moving his legs, which Derek thought that it was a shame since he had incredible long legs. Nonetheless, the Older boy in the room couldn't complain since he was having this incredible kid all to himself in this very moment. As the music began to pick up a little more Spark also began to follow the beat, this time allowing his legs to move in accordance with it. He did a mid turn to side stand in front of the older boy shaking his body in more exotic way, the blurry reflections on the black sleeveless hoodie would sometimes trace the lean muscles that twisted together with the stretchy piece of cloth. The tight pants seemed to clutch even more to the kid's long and lean muscled legs, the jeans looked like they would give up at any moment. Derek's eyes widen when the kid did another mid turn, giving the older boy a more clear view his ass.

It was truly mouth-watering.

The dim colors that lighted the room were the right ones, the shadows they casted over the twisting young body allowed Derek to appreciate the sight. Spark's body was a mixture of dim lights of green and blue casting shadows that perfectly outlined every muscle of his body, from the very calf of his legs up to the lines that formed his neck and hid under the black handkerchief that covered almost all of that brown hair. Every single line in the boy body was dancing before Derek's eyes, and the Hale boy was enticed by the sigh and taken in by the image before him that he didn't notice when his body had started swaying to beat. When Spark did another mid turn to side glance his only viewer he made a grin, a grin that caused Derek's breath to hitch. It was a grin that hid behind the hunger with a playful glint of the eye. That's when the young man noticed what he was doing, he was swaying… _fucking swaying,_ for god's sake. Derek Hale was not someone who just _swayed_ to _any_ kind of beat. Just who the hell was this kid?! But before Derek's mind could formulate anything at all, his eyes stranded again to the presence dancing before him when the music made another sudden change from the fast peace to a slow and sensual beat. His heart skipped a beat once more.

Spark started to strip.

Green eyes widen as the sigh of pale-soft-silky skin started to be more and more visible, the tight prisons made of fabric were being tossed into the air and landing into spots of oblivion on the floor. Derek had to use the last remnants of will power that were left in his mind to not move from his place, allowing his hands to almost claw down the armrest of the love chair was a big help. When the last piece of cloth was finally gone Derek heart skipped yet another beat and his breath was gone, the pale figure before him was like a marble greek statue coming to life. The satisfied look on Spark's face was an indicator that he had noticed how the older boy appreciated his effort, he was pretty sure that Derek was truly grateful for his efforts. As the slow beat kept on going Spark obliged to the tone and proceeded to move with more slow and tempting moves, his hands started to hover dangerously close to the layer of pear-like skin.

Derek took another moment to appreciate the new sight.

Spark was now, as the last time he saw him, just a cloth away from total nudity. Making aside the boots and the handkerchief, the stripper boy was brandishing a flashy and glittery pair of red boxer briefs. The combination of the red color together with the patches of black of the handkerchief and the boots made a contrast of thick color with the ever smooth and delicious pale skin, it was seriously hot the way any piece of cloth looked so… so… well, Derek couldn't really place a word for it. So to sum it up, it was that incredibly hot.

The music changed again, into a faster tune.

At the change Spark also changed the rhythm of his movements, just like last time Derek saw him on stage. Now the boy was doing frantic moves that made his body contort in ways the Hale boy didn't even think possible for a human body, clearly Spark was way beyond human level. Yeah, that much was pretty obvious since the first time he laid eyes on him.

Derek saw muscles stretch and retract like rubber, all of this in movements that were possibly the greatest aphrodisiac in existence. Even more enticing and inviting with those two ponds of melted chocolate directly staring at him, which caused him to fail to notice the two long pale arms trying to reach him. Unfortunately when Derek came to his senses the arms were no longer reaching out to him, instead his body went tense and numb when he saw Spark climbing down from his place and pacing towards him... okay maybe it wasn't so unfortunate after all. Then finally timed somehow started to feel slow when Spark positioned himself just above Derek's body, using as support the armrests of the love seat. Bending those long and flexible legs to be just a few inches away from the older boy, forcing Derek to swallow a lump in his throat he didn't even knew he had until _that_ very moment. Fuck.

Derek's body was starting to twitch with impatience.

When his brain finally registered the lean boy bent over him over him, moving his body and clearly daring him to even touch… well lets just say that it was good that his rational collided with his 'Peter side' causing his brain to short-circuit. Indeed, the young Hale felt so flabbergasted that his body remained there, without doing a damn thing; however, not all of his body went numb. Eyes and eyebrows were still trying to convey a message, a silent message that was indicating all the frustration he suffered for not being able to make his body react properly. So when Spark leaned a little bit more into his personal space his skin suffers from goosebumps, making Derek's spine to shiver all the way from his hips up to his head when he felt the boy's breath colliding with his. At this point Derek wasn't sure what could or would or _should_ happen it another inch was crossed, his hands were almost ripping the armrests while his body was slightly shivering at the proximity.

The music suddenly stopped.

Brown eyes were fixed on green eyes.

Their breaths were heating the other face.

Their bodies were trembling, one from containing impulses and the other from exhaustion.

"Was... the Big Bad Alpha... pleased... with my performance?" Spark whispered all smugly, pausing between words to try to even his breath..

"Very." He replied with a very shaky breath. Derek had to fight yet again the impulse to let his hand run free.

"Good." was the only word that came out of the boy's lips. Which, by the way, were opening and closing in a very enticing way. _'Fuck, stop teasing me.'_ Derek's mind pleaded.

A few seconds went by in total silence, seconds that Derek felt like hours. "You move very well." he said, wincing inwardly for the stupid remark. He would have said something smarter, but his brain was still kind of shocked. Also he had grew tired of the silence therefore allowing his mind to say the first thought that popped out.

"Thanks." Spark whispered shyly. "It's nice when people appreciate that." he giggled.

Derek started t heavy breath again, not really knowing what to say due to the daze he was still suffering.

"I'm afraid the session is over." Said the boy coyly. Was Derek's brain playing more tricks on him or did the boy sound disappointed?

Derek let out a few more puffs of heavy breath before his brain mustered enough functioning brain cells. "Can I come back?" He felt stupid for that one. Probably the boy know thought that he was a stalker, and just by the way this place handled its security he was pretty sure he was just about to get kicked out for being so fucking creepy.

"You want to come back?" He heard the asking in a slow wary tone.

Derek had no longer the courage to even mutter a single word, so the only thing he could do was to nod. But still he felt somehow so ashamed that he tore his eyes away from the boy's.

The kid giggle made Derek turn his eyes back at him; Spark was flashing an amazing and bright smile. "Then I'll be waiting." the boy said shyly said and after a deep breath he added. "I'll be waiting for my new regular."

Derek merely nodded, unable to even strain a single word from his mind. "Okay." he managed with another heavy breath. Spark also nodded.

They remained there eyeing each other, together without allowing even a single inch of skin to make contact. It was like the was an invisible wall of protection, whatever it was that made like this was unclear; however, something made them both feel that _this_ was the right way to go. After another silent minute that felt like an eternity made Derek notice that the boy was starting to shake, probably tired because of the position he was doing by hovering over him. Not that anyone made an effort to move away. When he saw Spark's eyes starting to drift around the room his mouth was affected by the Evil-Hale-Gene.

"Dery." the words came hoarse but clear. when the Hale realized what he had just said he really wanted to punch himself senseless.

"Dery?" the kid asked with a confused frown.

Not really seeing to point to regret anything (mostly because he said to himself that he would later have _plenty_ of time for that) he nodded. "Call me Dery."

Spark's smile felt like it was worth it. "Okay," focusing on the green eyes again. "Dery." he whispered very low, almost like in an intimate way.

And Derek couldn't help but smile.

* * *

Going a little back in time it was around eleven o'clock in the evening in the Hale Manor when a cell phone when off, the device was blurting a very loud rock tune which had startled the person sitting next to the phone. The person in question scowled like if with that the phone would just burst in flames for the disruption it dared to cause, but instead it only made it all the more annoying, which is why that person snarled at the device and picked it up while punching in the answer button (very violently by the way).

"What!" the person said very angry.

"Don't you think it's a little too late to be angry at the world for existing?" the other voice asked all smugly, its tone was also a bit scared.

"Isaac, I'm not in the mood right now and FYI I had been studying all day since tomorrow I have another test." the person gritted poorly containing the fury.

Isaac snorted. "Yeah, right. You? Studying? Come one, Cora, you would rather spend all day being lectured by your dad than studying."

"Actually, I would rather spend my Sundays driving Derek's Camaro, but for _some_ reason that's just seems to never happen. I wonder why?" She smiled when she heard Isaac almost choking on his own spit.

Isaac cleared his throat. "Okay, fair point."

"Lahey get to the point." She said lowly growling. "Believe it or not I really want to study and come clean out of this test."

"Okay, I get it, sorry." he cleared his throat again before continuing. "You see, I finally got a job." he sounded so happy about it that Cora could easily picture him making that sappy smile of his. She did definitely not smile at that.

"_So_?"

"Well, tomorrow will be my first day at it and unfortunately I have to start very early." he made a pause before continuing. "After work I have class."

"Okay, but so what?" she said more exasperated. She hated whenever Isaac was being vague.

"Well, I need my notes Cora." he shyly.

Cora stared at her phone all confused. "What notes?"

The sound of shuffling came through the line. "My Math notes I lend to you for your last test." He said shyly again. Cora started to wonder what the hell was wrong with him. Isaac was certainly shy from time to time, but this was weird even for him.

"Wait, lemme see where they are." After a few minutes of almost turning her room upside down she finally found said notes. "Hey, I found them." she smiled shaking the notebook like a maraca.

She heard Isaac made a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank god."

She snorted. "What? You really thought I had dumped already them or something?"

Silence.

Cora gaped at her phone. "You _really_ did think that?"

"Well… I wouldn't say exactly 'dumping'." he answered slowly and sheepishly.

The young girl narrowed her glare, even though it was the notebook she was glaring into submission. "Then what _exactly_ would you say?" she asked in a slow and menacingly-emasculating tone.

There was silence for a few seconds before Isaac cleared his throat. "So, yeah, can you please return them to me tomorrow?"

Cora made another menacing stare at her phone, finally sighing. "Listen tomorrow I'm planning to skip my first class."

"What?!"

"You heard me Lahey, I'm thinking about buying more time before the test just so I can go over my notes one more time."

"But I really need-"

"Although," she interrupted Isaac preventing a pleading rant from the tall blonde, "I heard from uncle Peter that tomorrow Derek will also skip his job, which is weird considering how much of a workaholic he is by the way, so I'll ask him for you."

Isaac let out a sigh of relief, because if there was one person he could count on that was Derek. "Yes, please. I'd really appreciate that."

She rolled her eyes, sometime it seemed like Isaac was more Derek's little brother than a friend. "Anyway, where should point my brother to?" She could practically feel Isaac frowning at her all confused with the silence. "You're yet to tell me where you work Einstein."

"Oh, that's right." he exclaimed all happy. "I'm gonna be working at the lo ft."

"The loft? What loft?" she asked hearing the boy sighing on the other side of the line.

"The Wolf's Bane Loft."

* * *

A/N: Okay guys first I would like to apologize for being late for my update, but seriously, I wasn't kidding when I said I had trouble writing this thing down. Not sure why but I had to triple squeeze my brains for decent level plot ideas. Anyway I apologize once more for the delay.

ALSO I want to apologize in advance becuase this pattern will probably repeat for the next episode. Sorry guys but my job has started to get really busy and I've been having less and less time. STILL that doesn't mean I'll leave this on the side, so don't worry about that.

Oh yeah, Also I apologize for all the typos you find. I am betaless, so yeah, sorry about that one too. I just can't find someone who can help me. :(

touchcloud: hope you loved Derek's POV's in this chapter. :)

mistsandstorms: you don't have to worry about that, actually i'm centering the plot mostly around Stiles and Derek, it's just that my personal taste makes me scatter the plot around to add a little bit more of suspense and mistery. Still don't worry, because as the story goes on you'll se how it all connects. ;)

So yeah, on my account this is all I can say for the moment. Just don't forget, keep the comments going and I'll keep the words flowing (god that was weird). So while I try to make time to work on the next chapter you guys just speak to me, I'll always have an eye open for what you guys have to share with me. you guys are my readers and it's your support that helps to keep this up.

Anyway, thanks and see you next time. :)


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